Sound Sleep
by Tsuyoku
Summary: Gaara wanders into a random room, a stealth mission at steak if anyone knew he was in Konoha. When his eyes become heavy, however, and sleep overcomes him, is it because of her? What would Gaara do if she had something he wanted, needed, craved? CH11 Up!
1. Sleep?

Disclaimer: I do not own it. I'm not making any money off of it. There are too many people in the world for you to sue for it. Just read. ; )

Summary: He needs something. She has that something that he wants. When he gets it, will he leave her to the rest of the world or take her for himself...

Chapter One.

The sand in her shoes was getting to be annoying. It was annoying while she was training with Kakashi and her group, and now it was even more annoying as she walked into her apartment, dumping the offending material out her window. Why was the sand in her shoes, in her home, invading her life? She wasn't quite certain, but Naruto was probably to blame. More times than not had he tracked something all over her floor when he came by before they trained. She walked with him to their practices in the mornings and sometimes in the evenings as well, preferring to have socialize with friends unlike some of the more quiet nins.

Before her mind could dwell on the fact that Sasuke would probably never allow anyone into his heart or mind and probably bring on a bout of self-loathing and rue, Sakura noticed there was more sand in her bedroom than anywhere else in the house. Mostly near the window, but also pooling in the floorboards of her bedroom, living in the cracks and probably multiplying by itself for all she was finding. IT had become a daily chore to sweep out the entire apartment, and she was starting to get tired of it. But how could it be the blond tracking sand it? Naruto never went into her bedroom when he came over, and this scared her a little. Gripping a kunai in her leg holster, she walked slowly out of her small apartment toward the road.

Sakura stalked down the street intent on finding Naruto. He was most likely at the shop getting some ramen—exactly where she'd left him when they'd gotten off of practice. Sakura now wished that she had taken him up on his offer to stay and have lunch; how was she supposed to comfortable live in her home when she wasn't sure how this sand had gotten into her house? She sighed, visibly expressing her dismay for the entire world to see.

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled towards her. She looked up to see him slurping up a few noodles of ramen and looking in her general direction. "Have you come to join me?" He asked, with a look in his eyes that said 'I knew that you'd come to the ramen side one day.'

She sighed again and sat on the stool next to him in silence. She wasn't really sure how she was going to explain her newfound fear of her apartment, but something just wasn't right about the place. And he gut was telling her to stay away.

Naruto's eyebrows raised. Normally the kunoichi would retort something witty and then accuse him of egomania or bad hygiene or something. But when she didn't say anything he motioned for her to elaborate. But she just sat there and smiled at the people behind the counter and waved at a couple passersby. "Sakura, look at me." Once he had her attention, he asked, "What's going on? I thought you were going home to rest after practice?"

"Well, I was…" When his next expression inquired on the remark. she continued. "I keep finding sand in my shoes and in my house. At first I thought it was you, Naruto, but then I found it in my bedroom, and I know that you have never been in there."

Naruto raised his eyebrows pervertedly.

"Unless you come in a look at me at night! You're so dead!" Sakura jumped a bit at her outburst and reminded herself that she was in public company right on the street, so outbursts like that could ruin her image as a lady. "You wouldn't have the guts, anyway."

Naruto watched her run her fingers through the short, pink hair that she wore so perfectly. It was amazing. She didn't clean it too often; her hair was just that great. It's like it cleaned and groomed itself on its own, when she was sleeping. But he shook his head and turned back to the conversation. "So you're finding sand in your shoes and stuff? Wow, you think that maybe you need a new pair? Maybe it's you that's been tracking the sand into your house…"

"How dare you! I do not. I clean my feet off as I walk into the door, unlike some people! Humph!" She stalked off down the street. Forget about being scared of all the sand in her room, the mystery was an appetizing relief from being around Naruto sometimes. How dare he think that she of all people would stalk into her own house and track sand inside! She was not an animal! She was a gorgeous girl that couldn't help her beauty!

"What did I say?" Naruto just sat there finishing his ramen while he contemplated her outburst. Deciding that it was just a girl thing that he would never understand, Naruto paid the man before walking down the street. 'Maybe I'll find Sasuke and have a real fight…"

Sakura left Naruto and made her way toward the tree outside of Tsunade's estate. If there was anywhere in Konoha that she felt safe, it was on the grove of trees where she learned how to be the medic nin she had come to be. And it was in those very trees that she felt a calm that she hadn't in a long time. But even still, something about the entire sand situation was really bothering her. For instance, they had some sand, but Konoha was mostly grass and powdery dirt rather than the gritty sand she'd been finding. Sitting underneath a tree, she was determined to do a little meditation before going home and finally facing the truth. In fact, could it be that it was all her imagination, that there wasn't anything to really worry about? She opened her eyes, after what may have been hours, with little to say for her attempt at peace.

She still couldn't help but sense something was wrong, and the fact that Sakura couldn't place her finger on it bothered her even more. She picked herself up and walked toward her house lighted by the setting sun. _Can't believe I was out of it that long…_ At the sight of her apartment, she wanted to go in, but at the same time, there was a tingling at the back of her spine. What brought all the sand into her house? It only started appearing recently. There had to be something purposeful behind it.

Entering, she grabbed a kunai from her satchel, intent on stabbing ANYTHING that came across her path in the darkness of her home. She turned on a lamp, and the room filled with light, casting shadows this way and that. But nothing dangerous was apparent there. Nothing stuck out as homicidal, and there was no one standing in the room like she had expected. Sighing, she laughed at how silly she must've looked holding the knife in one hand and ready to attack.

And even though she felt better after investigating the rest of her rooms and laughing each time she made a fool of herself, Sakura still had this weird feeling in her stomach that turned and turned, perhaps trying to warn her of something.

But perhaps she was just hungry. And after making something to eat, Sakura curled up and read a bit of a book before falling asleep, unbeknownst to the danger that lurked in her room at night.

Meanwhile…

Gaara; he had the power to control the sand. A monster lurked within him, and sleep never came for it would mean that he had succumbed to that monster. There wasn't much else to know about the sand nin. Not many people knew the story behind him: his story. Not many people listened to what he had to say, partially because he didn't talk, and even when he did, they were never alive to hear the end of it.

He was a killing machine. No mercy came from the sand as it could crush your skin and bones in an instant without Gaara even blinking in your direction. And yet, this killing machine was doing something interesting. He was sitting in the room of a weak medic-nin who was not worth a passing glance by even the lowest of ninjas. And why you ask?

He could sleep. There was something about her that made that monster calm. Gaara, of course could not see why. No one had the power to do that. The monster would rampage, would kill, and there was no way to stop it. So Gaara never slept. He never would allow the monster to take over, lest he perish.

It was only the previous week that he had slipped through a window into her house to hide from a few nin that had been on patrol. Any other mission, he would've attacked and killed them with no mercy should they have seen him, but this was stealth. No one was to die, and it would be as if he had never appeared in Konoha at all. And so he found her sleeping, so innocent and completely unaware of his presence in her space.

_What a sorry excuse for a ninja. It's a surprise that she has made it this far_.

Sitting there, in the cool, silence of the room, the desert-born soldier leaned his head back, closing his eyes and letting the sounds of the night, of her breathing to relax him. Gaara sat still, content on just sitting there till everything was clear, watching her intently that if she did wake up he was the first to reach her before even a breath left her lips. But after a while, Gaara's concentration slipped, he got sloppy, his eyes eased down, and he slept.

Not used to sleeping, Gaara only nodded off for about an hour or so, but once he jerked himself awake and pushed past the cloudy-headed stage to realized what he'd done. And he left as quickly as he'd arrived with even more questions and confusion than Sakura would endure later. _Why? Why was I able to sleep without the consequence of _him _taking over_? _And how did I lose control and let myself sleep_?

Later, Gaara figured that it had to be the girl. He returned the next night to test out his theory in an idiotic move that might have destroyed all of Konoha had be been wrong, but it proved correct that the girl was, in fact, the key. His control slipped when he was around her, and he discovered over the next few nights that it was quite comforting knowing that the demon wasn't going to release. And he came again the next night and the next, reveling in sleep for the first time in years.

But why? Who knows? But he liked it. Gaara couldn't remember the last time he dreamed. It is said that if a person goes so long without having dreams, it will make them go insane. Well, who was to say that he wasn't already there? All the relentless killing that he'd done, that he would continue to do... well, there was something to be said of that.

As he looked at her while she was sleeping, there was nothing that he wanted more than to kill her. He wanted her to relinquish the control she maintained over him without even knowing. And there was something that was so appealing about her motionless state. Her beauty, maybe it would look better in death. He could only imagine it, his sand covering her skin, the sharp of her jaw angled just wide enough to let out a silent scream, his hand clasping slowly as she sank free of life.

But he couldn't kill her. For one reason, and one reason only.

Sound sleep.

But was he going to make this a habit? Keep returning to Konoha night after night, risk getting caught, all for the sake of forty winks?

But in the end, each night was the same. She would turn out her lights, and within the hour she'd be sleeping, restfully. Gaara would sneak in and lean against the window and wonder, passively, why she sometimes tossed and turned and couldn't grasp the vestiges of sleep, but he soon would remind himself that she was not anyone important to him.

It was the sleep that called. '_But maybe she is important. Maybe she is because I can only sleep in her presence_.' Gaara thought as he concentrated on her breathing. It was deep, slow, and sensual of a sleeping girl. He walked up the wall of the first story and entered the only window in her apartment bedroom.

What would become of the one-tailed beast?

Tsuyoku: that's all for one. I wish some people would give me some reviews, I might need some help with this fic. Any ideas will be welcome. Please R&R, flames welcome!


	2. Paranoia

Disclaimer: I do not own it. I'm not making any money off of it. There are too many people in the world for you to sue for it. Just read. ; )

A/N: I will make the note that this doesn't follow exact true form with the anime/manga. But that's what fanfiction's about right?

Summary: He needs something. She has that something that he wants. When he gets it, will he leave her to the rest of the world or take her for himself...

Chapter Two.

It had been just before dawn that Gaara woke up to a sweet smell filling his senses. Oh yeah, it was her. He pushed off the wall and stood. She hadn't woken up- not even to his footsteps crossing the wooden floor. Such a poor ninja. She hadn't the right to call herself the title.

He exited without a sound, leaving no trace, save a little sand, that he had ever been there.

But this only served to fuel the mystery that Sakura found in the sand. Every morning it pooled in her floor near the window, just begging to be swept up. Where the hell was it coming from? Maybe she should just shut her window tighter at night. Or maybe she could paint it closed. Sakura had been meaning to paint her walls for some time now. Maybe a nice fitting color. Pink? Red? Something along those lines? _No, that wouldn__'__t_ _work_, she told herself. There were nights that she just loved to leave her window up, letting the soft, cool breeze float in when she read at night.

Ah well, tighter the window would be.

Sakura sweep the sand out her door and began her trek to get ready for her day, hoping it wouldn't be hectic. For the past week, at least, she hadn't gotten a good night's sleep. It was unnerving, but she had felt something was wrong. Nightmares flooded her thoughts, and restless afternoons turned into short evenings where she dreaded even going to sleep. Once during the night, she woke up, thinking there was a presence in the room but dismissed the thought as just another figment of her obviously overactive imagination.

Kakashi was always late. He'd never really shown up on time unless it was dire—and even then he was always doing something more important at the time. But Sakura was pleased to find that she was not the last one there on this day (barring their pervert sensei).

Business went as usual. Team Seven had survived Sasuke's return, though his emotional state was more in question than ever. Sakura often wondered if he would ever truly get over his brother, let alone the massacre of his entire family. She could only hope that with her and Naruto around, bringing back the normality, he might one day be able to let go of his hatred.

A part deep inside her ached for him, looking at him, still having feelings for the troubled youth... She couldn't help the fact that her emotions still returned to that school-girl desperation for the dark, handsome, loner-type. But today, Sasuke was different. He was more on edge, and there was a definitive hunch to his shoulders as if he was constantly one guard.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" Sakura asked. She knew that he probably wouldn't like her asking in the least bit. There was something about privacy that the boy valued more than anything sometimes, and usually it wasn't a good sign.

"You don't see him?"

_Huh? What the heck is he talking about? See who_?

"There's a presence."

"Sasuke, I don't know what you're talking about!" She followed his dark eyes as they broke from hers and moved along the line of her shoulder until moving slowly up above her head. Sakura finally turned around.

A huge mound of sand was growing behind her, skinny and tall, and it loomed over the entire team. But Sasuke was the only one besides her that seemed to notice it. Naruto and Kakashi weren't in the least bit worried or even aware of the thing. But it shifted in the flowy way that sand moves when it's lifted by the air, calculated and precise, until it reached her and paused. Sakura wasn't sure what to do. None of the others were running to her defense, but she clearly saw this thing right in front of her eyes. Was it meant to harm her? Was it going to do something to her?

Why was her team just standing there?

The blob of sand, now towering over her comparatively small frame, dove for her, covering her in darkness.

Sakura's leg jerked her awake, almost like those dreams where you're tripping down a flight of stairs, but certainly a lot more intense and drawn out. It had been so real. That _thing_ for lack of a better term had made her feel an uncertain fear that she hadn't in a long time. Damn her dreams and her imagination for always running through her head. Not doubt this was some insane way for her mind to come to terms with the sand that was in her apartment all the time, but it did little to ease her fears. Affirmed them, if anything.

The pinkette looked around the dark room, fully awake even though the clock said it was just barely into the small hours of the morning. Her room was nothing but dark shadows and moonlight coming in the window. A full moon. Maybe that was why she had been on edge lately.

Her legs swung over the edge, bare feet contacting with the cool floor. No use wasting time getting to sleep now. She was just going to have to find other methods or entertain herself.

Outside, another figure was just as on edge as Sakura was.

Gaara was livid, actually. He'd been in the middle of a dream... a dream! They were intoxicating, something others took for granted probably, when they weren't all about the death that he'd caused. But _she_ had to wake up. He'd barely detected her change in breathing in time to remove his presence from the room, lest he was discovered and this opportunity to experience some REM be taken away from him.

But now she was walking around her room, no sleep in her eyes. He stared at her from one of the trees across the dirt road from the complex where he'd jumped to in less than a second before she had time to look around the room. And he didn't appreciate having to wake up so soon. Now he knew how others could complain when they didn't get their whole night's rest. Gaara could see Sakura leave her bedroom and turn on a light somewhere in the front of her house.

_Might as well call it a night_. He jumped from tree to tree and made his way back to the Sunagakure, questioning his actions for the hundredth time in that week. He wasn't one to do something so rash as to travel to another territory every night to visit a woman, and if anyone back home knew anything about it, he was sure he'd loose a little bit of the edge he had going. Fear was a wonderful way to keep people under your bidding, but once they found out that you were human just like them, that you had human urges just like they did, it was over.

After the sixth night of waking in a dreamy daze to some familiar and boding chakra signature close to her house, Sakura decided that living alone was finally getting to her and that she might just need more of a social life, which would effectively cure the paranoia that she was experiencing. Sakura found it hard to believe that she was even having a problem with being alone in her house. Why now all of the sudden? She'd lived alone for longer, it seemed, than she cared to remember, but it had never bothered her before. She'd gotten over the irrational fear of the dark, or being alone, of the possibility of ghosts standing over her bed at night. What she needed was some social interaction. She was nothing if not a social butterfly, but all she'd done lately had been meet with the team, grab a little lunch with Naruto, and then go home. It was no wonder she wasn't feeling quite like her usual self these days! The rosette was glad she'd found a likely source for her problems.

Most likely.

Well, she was banking on it.

So, just like that, Sakura decided to postpone coming home to enjoy the company of her friends (who she'd neglected lately).

Unbeknownst to her, a certain sand nin wasn't going to like her makeshift solution.

"So, I'll meet you there in an hour?" Sakura waved bye to the girls. It was amazing how she could feel so wonderful, even after a long and testing day on the training grounds. And most of that was credit to Ino and Tenten, whom she'd bumped into on her way home.

Seeing their faces reminded her of the resolution that she'd made to her sanity. But they seemed more than pleased she wanted to do something together:

"_How about we all meet at the bar or something?__"_

"_Really? Sounds great, Sakura. Any occasion?__"__ Ino looked her over. Sakura almost never wanted to do much anymore. It seemed that beyond her training with the infamous Tsunade coupled with Team 7's almost daily routines she never had a spare moment._

_Even TenTen was pleasantly surprised. Sakura hadn't really gotten to know TenTen too well, only the occasional conversation back when she hung out with Lee quite often. __"__How about in an hour or so? We're all a bit sweaty and gross.__"_

And that was it. Sakura had forgotten how easy it was to make a date with her friends.

She twisted the key in the lock and made a bee-line straight to the bathroom.

The Kazekage focused on the paperwork and scrolls laying about his desk. There was nothing exciting about being the leader of a village. It was all paperwork.

Usually it didn't really bother him. He would do it at night when no one could disturb. But now that his nights were taken up by some more satisfying pastime, he was left to answer messages, sign agreements, the whole shebang, during the day when he was constantly pestered by annoying people.

Some had noticed this change in schedule.

His siblings, for instance, the poor people who had to live with him noticed a shift in his routine. And being siblings didn't count for much. He'd left the whole 'family cherishing' emotion behind when his father had imprisoned a demon within him.

How could you have a brothers and sisters who were scared of you? Mind you, they were getting better about it. He wasn't exactly the monster that everyone thought he was.

Kankuro leaned on the door frame, Gaara aware of his presence but not acknowledging it. The painted man's lips curled up as if to imitate a smile. Emotion was one thing that made his brother very uncomfortable.

"Hn." It was recognition enough.

"Not like you to be locked up in here doing your paperwork during the day." His brother wasn't exactly known for sporadic changes in personality or schedule.

"Something you want..." Gaara barely glanced over.

"Just wondered where you'd been going during the evenings." He could feel his brother's eyes on him.

The sake cup touched her lips, letting its contents slide down her throat, warming her insides. She hadn't had alcohol in ages, but she enjoyed the way it made her loosen up now that she was in more of a social situation.

Lee was on one side, Ino on the other, and their group of friends had somehow managed to cram into one of the large booths in the back of the restaurant/bar. Somehow the small gathering that she'd been expecting had turned into a massive party compared to what it was supposed to be. Sakura had planned on starting small, hanging out with some friends before getting everyone in the same room.

But thanks to Ino and Tenten, she'd gotten more than she bargained for.

Or course, there were some missing parts of the teams. Neji hadn't made it—not that she'd expected that. And Shino had moved away to other parts of the bar to drink alone, which was bothering her—she'd made an effort, why couldn't he?

Sakura walked hazily, not quite used to the amount of alcohol that she'd taken in without even realizing it. The stools around Shino were all empty, and she imagined that he liked it like that. But there was nothing wrong with a bit of company; after all, you weren't supposed to drink alone.

"Shino... why are you sitting here all alone?" He turned his head towards her, and even though she couldn't see his eyes, she knew that they were trained on her face.

"I don't even know why they dragged me here. I'm not a socialite."

For not being a socialite that was the longest string of words that she'd ever heard from his mouth at once.

"You know that there's this rule..." She paused for a moment. His expression said 'go on'. "Well, it's a no-no to drink anything alone. So you've got to at least start off another round with me."

Her eyes shined, and she didn't know whether or not it was the sake, but she felt that connection with this man. They didn't have too much in common, but the basics stood out. Both ninjas, on paper at least, and they were both out of their true environment when it came to bar-type situations.

"Alright." His hand rose as he signaled the bartender for another bottle. Sakura finished what was left of her cup as she turned towards Shino in the mood for starting some type of conversation.

Sakura opened her eyes to the afternoon light shining through the window. What she knew immediately was that Plan A had backfired on her end. Spending time with friends had sounded good, but she was reminded why she stopped hanging out with them all the time in the first place. Ino like to drink. And she wasn't a happy drunk unless other people were getting drunk, and then everyone had to be drinking for it to be a fun night. And Sakura couldn't take waking up like this every morning anymore.

Judging by the sun out her window, it wasn't quite morning anymore either.

Plan A had backfired even more when she noticed Shino lying in the bed next to her. Obviously clothed and obviously not waking up from a drunken one-night stand was the best thing she'd expect to happen to her that morning. His glasses were laying on the night table, making Sakura roll over and just stare at her current bedmate.

She's never actually look at him without his glasses. Sure, during some of the more progressive fights, he'd taken them off and done more demonstrative attacks, but there was something about staring into his soft features while he was asleep.

It was even more interesting to see his eyes when they opened. Still adjusting to the light, he reached over her figure for the sunglasses, but not before she stilled his arm and took a good look at him. "Cute." She smiled in approval, wishing that he'd show those dark eyes more often.

"We didn't..." Sakura shook her head at his implied question. "Good."

She wouldn't take offense. Sakura probably would have said the same thing.

Shino rose from her bed barely big enough for two and stilled himself against the wall. "Now I'm reminded of why I never drink." Sakura nodded in agreement. For all her headaches, however, she couldn't really deem the night as a total failure since she'd definitely had fun.

Shino had refused a cup of strong coffee, instead intending to brave the walk to his own place and rest there for 'the next week' as he put it.

He wasn't a lazy ninja, just a light-weight.

Sakura wandered about her house with her own mug in her hand and decided that just going back to the bedroom to lay down alone for a few—minutes? hours?—was the most appealing idea. She opened her window to let the afternoon breeze float in while she rested, but was stopped short.

Her eyebrows lifted, twitched more like, and Sakura's mouth couldn't help but drop. She used to enjoy that tree across the way, to love the shade that it provided during the summer months. But now it was half gone.

Two branches lay on the ground, three others were split barely still hanging onto the tree, and there were numerous holes and a lot of bark was gone.

Sakura sighed. She couldn't let the tree die. Despite her lingering headache, she jumped straight out of the second story window and landed next to the tree. What was her training on logs all worth if she really couldn't fix an actual tree? Her hands glowed the medical green as she placed her hands above the most damage on the trunk.

It brought back memories of her first few trainings with Tsunade as she carefully pieced back the split wood.

When she was done healing the trunk of the tree, the exhaustion from the night before was amplified and Sakura just jumped back into her apartment towards the bed. The tree had needed a trim anyways, what were a few limbs that she didn't feel like healing at the moment?

She didn't really question what happened to the tree or why no one seemed to be concerned. It had been a late night with half of the nins in Konoha drinking at the bar. Most likely some of them got a little antsy. Why they had to take it out on that tree, however, she didn't know.

It seemed that with all of the festivities of the night, Gaara was probably the only one in Konoha that wasn't in the best of moods. Most of the passerby citizens had been in an alcohol-induced personality change that was happy, bubbly, or just plain horny.

But he didn't expect his nightly visitations to be screwed up by said partying. He couldn't tell if the woman that had been unknowingly harboring him at night was horny or just happy, but whatever the reasons, she brought home another man.

Not that he'd staked claim on her or anything. More like he was just using her for his total benefit. But if it ruined his schedule, then there would be hell to pay.

To his great appreciation, they'd collapsed and hadn't gone on to anything more sexual in their inebriation, but despite his attempts, he couldn't get to sleep.

It seemed Shukaku was not happy with the other presence in the room.

So he'd taken it out on a tree. Gaara couldn't really bring himself to be sympathetic to anything, but if he could that tree would get first priority. He'd left it in quite a state. But as it was, he couldn't really feel sorry for anything, even himself, over his lack of sleep. Even though it probably wasn't the best idea to destroy a tree near her house of all places and leave physical proof that he'd been there, he wasn't real concerned in the end.

But he was sure mad. His brother was once again asking questions about where he would go at night, not even stopping to realize that on this particular 'day-after' he was in a most furious mood. He only knew one thing in his head...

The Kazekage bent for no one. Gaara hadn't slept since he could remember, years ago, and now that he was dreaming, waking up restful, and doing it all in secret, there was nothing that this little wannabe kunoichi could do or change to stop him.

Tsuyoku: I guess you could call him a demon with a plan or something. I'm not quite sure about this chapter. I know that I am really working on this story and another DBZ fic (Tempt of Fate) right now, but this chapter seemed rough, raw maybe, to me.

Tell me what you think. College is starting back up, so not sure when updates may happen, but what do you know, I could get inspired between classes. We'll see. THX.


	3. Obsession

Tsuyoku: Yo, I'm back. And after the reviews that I got for the last chapter, I was motivated to begin writing the third installment at once. But then college started being college, and so this one's a bit late... don't remind me. I realize that I haven't quite gotten everyone's relations down yet, so I wanted to clarify – yes, Gaara knows Sakura, and this chapter's going to explain more about why he's so distant. THX.

Sound Sleep 3

Gaara of the Desert really hadn't gotten to sleep lately. He was mad at the girl, mad at her for staying out so much, being with others, and then coming home only when it was convenient for her, as if she had just run out of things to do.

If Gaara felt too many feelings, he would have been a bit hurt that she wasn't really paying attention to him, and then he'd remind himself that she didn't even know he was there. But Gaara didn't really care to feel too much. He just wanted to sleep, feel the relaxation that it gave him. Feel the satisfaction that she managed to give him whether he'd admit it or not.

It wasn't like he didn't know the girl. Haruno was her name. But he wouldn't call her that. As if sleeping in the same room with someone wasn't personal enough, letting the name calling begin would make it all too intimate. Much to his chagrin, he had to admit that the situation was going to get more and more private between them, whether she knew it or not.

Lately, her actions had been more sporadic, and Gaara had been unable to predict sometimes when she would be home and when she wouldn't. It was a wonder that she was still adequate enough with her duties on her team and volunteering in the hospital… not that he was keeping tabs or anything.

Clearly, she had become his obsession, and admitting it was half the battle to being cured. But he didn't want to be cured, he wanted to sleep damn it, and she wasn't even letting him do that even more.

Since that night she'd brought home whatever man that was, it had been two weeks of staying at someone's house or coming home late with a girl friend. Sakura wasn't letting herself be alone, but he couldn't decide whether she was doing it on purpose or not. Had she discovered he was bunking in her bedroom at night without him noticing?

She couldn't, Gaara was fairly certain of that fact. She wasn't aware of much—that was an established fact. And most of Konoha would have been on a manhunt had she found out that a man had been sneaking into her space.

But how was he supposed to keep sleeping when that other ninja was getting in his way? It was hard enough keeping a low profile let alone keeping up with her sporadic social life.

Not only had she been out and about, but Sakura had begun to talk and spend more and more time with Shino after their would-be affair that night.

She was currently walking along the main path with said sunglass ninja, and the silence was killing her. As much as she liked spending time, the talking part of their rendezvous had barely increased lately.

"Shino, you're going on a mission soon, is that right?"

He turned his head to look at her; the shade of his glasses barely dimmed the bright pink of her hair and complexion. "Yes."

"With whom?"

"I believe Neji and Ino are accompanying me on this one. It's merely an escort mission." She smiled at him; that was better. If you got him talking about something that he liked, it was easy to have a conversation with him.

"How long is this one going to take?" Sakura asked as they continued onwards.

"Hm, depends on how long we are detained with this businessman." And that was all Gaara was able to witness as they walked into a store. In the dim light of the almost faded sun, Gaara had set out for Konohagakure as soon as he was able to leave his office undetected. He wasn't followed, but he was sure Kankuro was thinking about it, as Gaara's schedule change had been the highlight of his thoughts lately. But he managed to mask his ki enough to be undetected by both his brother and the fellowship of the Leaf.

Gaara turned and walked in the direction of Sakura's apartment intent on waiting for her that night. If that man was going on a mission, she would certainly be alone for a few days. And hopefully she used those few days to get some much needed rest and give him some peace while she was at it.

Sakura paced through the store without so much as a glance to most of the stock - she'd never been into buying new types of weaponry. Call her old fashion, but Sakura enjoyed the feeling of her hand wrapped around a kunai. When it came to actually seeking out more equipment, she'd never been one to do so.

She passed a glance at Shino, who seemed quite interested in a small piece of weaponry in his hand. That night that they had passed out together on her bed, Sakura knew that they had kissed multiple times and that things had been heading in a more erotic department. However, Shino and she, having actually started spending time in or near each other's company, had both declared to each other that nothing but friendship was developing. Sakura didn't mind that fact at all. She just liked spending time with him. It was nice to have a male friend that was definitely less boisterous than Naruto but less passive than Sasuke (if only by a little).

For, even though she declared that she was over the solemn Uchiha, ever since he returned back to their village, she had begun to feel more pity for him than anything else.

It seemed that even showing up for training and being open with others was more than he was willing to do some days, and Sakura could see as a medic-nin in training, that his mind and body were as closed as ever with thoughts of hatred towards his brother.

"Sakura," a deep voice pelted her ears. She turned to see Shino about to check out, having obviously decided to purchase the little thing in his hands.

"Let's go get some tea."

Sakura placed her empty tea cup on the wooden counter at Ichiraku. For being a weekend, it was running a little slow in here, but the pink haired girl assumed that was only because Naruto was off this weekend training secretly with only Kakashi there for guidance.

She shook her head; knowing Naruto, the copy-nin wouldn't be able to get in any dirty reading with that orange blob there. She smiled and turned towards her bug friend to ask him when he was leaving.

"Tomorrow morning." His lips parted for more of the warm liquid letting it glide down his throat. It was sore from talking—not much talking—but more talking than he'd done to one person in his entire life in one day.

"Cool," and she, too, turned back to her cup letting the silence fill the space between them but enjoying his physical company as much as she could.

It was nice to have a friend that accepted you in a blissful silence.

She padded her way toward her apartment, holding her shoes as to let the loose, sandy, dirt climb up into her toes. She'd parted with Shino earlier, wishing him a goodnight and a good mission the next day. She yawned slightly, finally realizing that she hadn't a moment to herself in the past few weeks. Sakura was tired of going crazy and lonely in that small, almost bare apartment, but at the moment, it was starting to look like a cozy little place to spend some alone time.

Yeah, it would be nice to have some tea, read a book maybe, and lounge around before she went to bed.

Sakura dropped her shoes beside the door, only caring enough to wipe her feet on the map lest she track sand into her apartment. She paused.

That's right, it was quite odd. The sand hadn't been showing up lately. It was a nice change, but frankly she was still wonder where it had come from in the first place.

Sakura shrugged, too worn out from the past week to really admit her curiosity.

Gaara sat on the tree outside, admiring still that she managed to fix most of it. He could feel her chakra running through the limbs of the tree, and while he had little to no respect for a nin who couldn't even tell when someone was repeatedly in their house at night, he could commend her on her ability to repair. He'd become almost friends with this tree because he stood on its branch parallel to her window every night until he could assess whether he was going to get any sleep. And in the evening glow that erupted through her bedroom window, Gaara's eyes reflected various emotions, one of them being relief.

She hadn't brought anyone home… There was no one there except her… and it looked as if she was getting ready for bed.

He could have sighed it if wouldn't have been out of character for his usual stoic self. She read a book for about two hours, but before he knew it, the light from her window had faded and within a few breaths, she was slipping slowly into the rhythm of sleep.

Her open window made it easy for his entry, but he no longer cursed her for being such a horrible ninja; in fact, he reveled in it, for if she was more alert he might never have experienced sleep again.

It had been two weeks since the last night's rest Gaara was able to manage. He'd tried at home, but the thought of Shukaku running rampaging across Suna was enough to slightly frighten him into only attempting it in the presence of the rosy woman. He'd even tried spending the night on her roof, but it wasn't enough. He had to be close to her.

Fate certainly was a cruel mother when it came to putting him together with people. He didn't want intimacy. He didn't want to depend on her. He just wanted his freedom, and he wanted sleep. He wanted his cake and to eat it, too.

And thus, not even waiting till Sakura was in the deep stages of sleep, Gaara had swung into the window from the roof and swiftly set his things onto the floor. His eyes closed, and he sighed once more into a soft, dreamy sleep.

When Gaara dreamed, it was usually about the past, about all the people he had killed or hurt. The Sand-nin suspected that after years of not sleeping, his mind was finally going through all the events and committing some to memory and just replaying others so he might be plagued by the blood and gore once more. But even in his sleep, Gaara hadn't been bothered by it, not when he was getting a physical and emotional rest.

_His hands glided along her ivory skin, grazing the soft areas by her collarbone and touching the sensitive places along her neck as she writhed beneath him. His fingers wrapped themselves around her neck and began to squeeze, gripping her throat as tight as he could while her writhing resumed at an even faster pace. Before long, there was no soul left in her eyes, just her figure laying there, speckles of sand decorating her hair._

_The he sat back and looked at the body, eyes closed as if in slumber, and attempted to resume his own slumber… but it wouldn't come to him… She wasn't the calming girl that had been there before…_

_What had he done…_?

Gaara flinched slightly, which woke him out of the dream; to Gaara, the slight flinch was the equivalent of a total jerk to most normal people, and it startled him enough that he almost jumped up on the defense. But he refrained, and even when he opened his eyes, Gaara did not allow himself to breath until he made sure the girl in the bed was still very much asleep.

Fortunately for her, she still was. Gaara reviewed his dream. He couldn't kill her, unfortunately. If his dream was correct, she had to be alive for him to sleep. He wasn't willing to test whether or not this was the case, and he would rather have to sleep in the same room with a living girl than even try with a dead one. As morbid as that sounds.

For a moment he pondered why he even had the dream, but then stood poised to exit the window. The images had him curious, and sleep, no matter how wonderful it was, was no longer on his agenda that night.

This tit and tat behavior went on between the two for the next few nights; it was almost like their own routine, except that she knew nothing about it. But that wasn't to say that the pink-haired kunoichi didn't suspect that something unusual was going on in her apartment.

The sand had once again appeared, and she was getting tired of sweeping it out the door every morning. Her window had been open every night since the breeze was lovely in Konoha evenings, but the wind had to have been flying to amount this much dirt into her bedroom window.

She was curious, furious, and totally appalled to think that someone was coming into her house at night. Her dream flashed before her eyes once more. Surely it wasn't something… supernatural going on. But she felt foolish for even thinking the thought.

Sakura vowed to find out what was going on if it was the last thing she did.

The next night, Gaara waited in the tree line that looked at the back of her apartment complex. He could see her window perfectly from there. The weekend was the reason he kept his distance; there were still people walking the street even at this time of night. He was slighted at having to cross the entire River country to get to Konoha every night to wait and wait for her light to blink out. It took all his speed to arrive at a decent time, what with taking care of the Kage duties in Suna first.

It was becoming more and more demanding to see her… to feel her calming effect on him. It was bad enough that things between the Villages of Sand and Leaf were still rocky that he had to be there every night.

Gaara narrowed his eyes - he felt like a weak child, stooping so low as to need some girl just for his very comfort.

The light blinked out in her room, signaling that she was finally giving up her insomniac ways; the girl had begun to take longer and longer to turn out the light ever since he had begun sleeping at her place once more. But the light always dimmed; it never failed.

He was just about to the window when Gaara felt another presence coming towards him. He made himself unknown just as Shino appeared in his vision, seemingly heading for Sakura's place as well. His eyes spied her open window from behind his dark glasses, almost not making out the form from the dim setting, but landing on her sill hadn't been a problem for the ninja.

Gaara watched in secret as Shino stepped into her bedroom, and the moment he set foot on the ground Sakura woke up and was instantly at his throat with a kunai in her hand.

Gaara rose a non existent eyebrow. She sensed that ninja in her sleep, but she had never been able to do it when he entered her space? The Kage filed that in his mind to think about later, but paused to continue observing what was going to happen with that guy in there. Obviously this was going to prolong her sleep for a while.

"Just what I need," he mumbled into the night. "Another obstacle."

He sighed as Sakura lowered the weapon and laughed. "Shino, you scared me. You know it's dangerous to come in here unannounced like that."

He nodded. "Just got back from the mission."

"Was it as boring as you thought it might be?" Yes, it had been, he replied. She motioned out of the room and into her kitchen where she offered coffee; the drink was taken from her hand wholeheartedly from the silent ninja.

Gaara all but growled from his place in her tree. As they had moved from the room, he had jumped closer to get a good look at what they were doing, but he was unable to see them any more. And tonight he dared not jump into her window. Either she was on guard, as displayed by her waking up at Shino's entrance, or the male ninja would sense him no matter what.

He backtracked his way, tree to tree, as his steps took him closer and closer to Suna once more.

_She shrugged from her bed, listlessly moving closer and closer to his form as he watched appraisingly. Her sulking form shadowed over his in the light emitting from the full moon. Her legs shifted under tight skin and short night dress to lower right in front of his form, hands supporting her weight on either sides of his legs._

_He moved not even an inch as her face, curious and amused, floated closer to his own, but Gaara refused to back down in the course of her forwardness. Before he could take a gasp, she closed the gap and met his own parted lips with hers in a chaste, short kiss…_…

The Kazekage shot up, this time jerking more fervently than the last, but silent enough that he expected Haruno was still asleep.

But a glance up into her bed revealed otherwise. There, glowing in the moonlight just like the dream, floated viridian eyes. They were locked on his form, still horizontal on the bed, but Gaara knew he had been discovered, lest this was only another dream…

He couldn't take the chance.

His form bolted from the room, once more running from this woman.

Where in his mind had he succumbed to her control? Gaara couldn't be sure that it wasn't Shukaku's doing, but of this he was sure: Gaara of the Sand was under no one's control. He would show her… he would show her.

Meanwhile Sakura still remained in her bed, covers drawn up to her chest as they had before. She hadn't moved at all since seeing the man on her floor.

In some jutsus, you can stick a kunai in your leg and be done with it. But others are a little more difficult to conquer. This had been one of them—well assuming that what she witnessed was a jutsu at all; she hoped so. Waking up to find a man sitting on your floor unconscious, let alone Gaara of the Sand, wasn't something very high on her list of things to experience. Um, unconscious? Was he hurt or something? Sakura looked around the room as it was now: empty. She thought he didn't sleep—what about the demon?

She rolled over, sitting up in the bed, content to say her slumber was over for the night.

Just as she rose to head toward the kitchen, her eyes landed on the small pile of sand that lay by her window. She could have smiled had she not been so shocked.

This hadn't been a dream. Now her mission was to find out what Subaku no Gaara had been doing sleeping in her bedroom in the middle of the night and how she was going to keep him from coming back.

Tsuyoku: Hey guys - whooo, looooong overdue update and of course I would love to thank you all for wonderful reviews and all the people that added this story to your Alert and Favs lists. It really means a lot. I have barely seen the beautiful picture I've got as my background these past few days, for I slave to work on this story and others (My new Naruto fic, CopyCat, Tempt of Fate, etc.) and therefore am starting to get back into the habit of writing more and more since finals are approaching and will soon be gone. *shimmies*

Thanks! R&R!


	4. Possession

Tsuyoku: Wow, this took WAY too long... Sorry for the lengthy breaks, guys, it's been a trip. But here's CH4, so please review for me - I would like some more feedback about how you like the progression. Thanks! R&R

Well, onto it then.

Sound Sleep 4

Gaara sat back in his chair looking towards the papers on his desk. He wasn't concentrating or even acting as such, but it might have looked like he was paying attention to the words on its surface to any passerby. His arms were crossed, and his mind was miles and miles away: specifically in Konoha.

To that, he would never admit, especially to his brother, who leaned casually in the doorway. Kankuro waited to be acknowledged, though he knew it was futile because Gaara was obviously ignoring him.

"Ahem," he interjected. "I see you have returned to your normal routine, _brother_." At this Gaara rose his head. He knew it was just a matter of time before Kankuro mentioned something along those lines. The Kazekage made no sound, but lifted his head to get a better look at his sibling through the grand office.

Kankuro moved in, hovering in front of the desk. He knew that he was treading careful waters, for even though Gaara hadn't killed Temari or him yet didn't mean he would have reservations about it in the future. But this was too interesting a situation to pass up talking about. For the past few years that his brother had been leader, Kankuro had never seen him break his rhythm—his routine—like he had in those two weeks. It was almost as if he had been a different person—gentler somehow in some ways. But now that was entirely gone.

The look in Gaara's eyes had once again sharpened to a green edge that contrasted with his dark marks. "You need something, _Kankuro_?" Gaara sent a chilling glance towards him.

Kankuro took his last thought back—the sharpness was worse than ever now. At first his behavior and attitude had returned to his normal tense silence, but now there was this slightly frantic and annoyed, frustrated sheen to it that Kankuro just couldn't figure out. "Just... wondering."

Gaara didn't stop to ponder just what Kankuro could be 'wondering', for he already knew what it was about. "Well, _wonder_ somewhere else. I'm leaving." Gaara walked towards the door stopping to grab his outer robes before departing leaving his brother to stand there and just smile.

Kankuro couldn't wipe the grin off of his face—why hadn't he thought of it before? _Probably because the thought would never cross the mind of someone who knew Gaara particularly well, but it was perfect_.

Gaara had found a girl.

And Kankuro intended to find out whom. The thought of someone managing to tame Gaara in the least was a physical and emotional power that no one in the past had possessed before save their uncle.

He followed suit and left the office walking towards town, thinking about the facts as he walked:

He knew for sure she lived somewhere out of town. Kankuro hadn't seen his brother most days except between certain hours when he was actually working at a quick pace. So either Gaara was eager to be with her every second he could, or there was a significant journey to somewhere else, certainly one of the bordering countries.

But which one?

He had a plan to inquire about them without letting his brother know too much.

Gaara threw the document on the edge of the desk towards his hovering brother. The said relative had taken great interest in Gaara's so called travels in the last few days, which made seeing Sakura very difficult. Not to say that the Sand nin was seeing much of the pinkette in any sense, for she'd vacated her apartment for the time being and was staying with as many people as she could to avoid his presence... or at least that was what Gaara assumed.

But in any case her defiance was grating even more on his nerves ever since he was discovered. He all but slammed his fist onto the table in front of him for being so careless that night, but the dreams that he had experienced were so real, so vivid, and he couldn't help but indulging in them.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on, brother?" The redhead barely spared Kankuro a glance. "I can see you're not focused; you haven't been lately. You've found a girl, haven't you?" Kankuro leaned forward just close enough to meet Gaara's dark rimmed eyes, "though how you could find someone to put up with you is totally beyond me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Gaara's deep voice reverberated through the room. He knew that his brother had been curious about his whereabouts these past few weeks... However, his ignorance wasn't about to change. Gaara would rather him think he'd found a mate than have to tell him of his reliance towards such a weakling.

"Sure you do. But there's something that I can't quite put my finger on... something different about you that not even a 'woman's touch' could do." He shook his painted face as if he was seeing things. It was no use trying to study Gaara; he had a mind that would drive a psychologist to insanity.

"Have you any dealings in... Ame soon?" One slightly visible eyebrow rose on Gaara's forehead. "Maybe... River Country?" Hmmm. Kankuro had to think. What other notable villages were within a half day's trip of Sand?

"How about Konoha?" At this, his senses picked up on a slight twitch in his brother's face—the only visible sign that he'd struck a nerve. "No? Well, that's okay. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. By the way, have you seen that new overview of our dealings with the Village hidden in the Leaves; it's over in that stack of files you've yet to touch."

He could have smiled... but Kankuro assumed that it was wise to give Gaara the benefit of the doubt. He all but sauntered his way to the door in a victorious mindset to leave the Kazekage to his own whims.

And as soon as Gaara sensed the hall was clear of his brother (and any other personnel), he double took at the three inch stack of papers.

His throat cleared.

He sort of stretched, which for Gaara meant he leaned back and forth, left and right, without moving arms or legs in the least. Then he tapped his pen while worrying his lip. He knew how out of character he seemed, but that wasn't enough to distract him from what Kankuro had revealed.

Could what was lying in that stack be the key to his misdealing with the pink haired kunoichi?

He wasn't certain, but it was damn well time to find out. Gaara's nerves were wearing thin slowly and grating with frustration and lack of sleep. He hadn't ever experienced exhaustion before, for meditation had been enough for him. Now, however, it was different. It was all her fault.

And this time around, she wouldn't be able to say 'no'.

No, Gaara would put her in as much hell as she'd unknowingly placed him when he got his hands on her... so to speak.

Kankuro, meanwhile, hummed from the upstairs quarters he called home. He could only imagine it... how Gaara had pounced on those very files after he left.

His brother was turning out to be more human than any of them had originally thought. And what a coincidence that Konoha had gotten a reaction out of him, since the papers from their Hokage had arrived just that day.

There was a storm coming—not in the physical way—though he could sense something was going to happen with the Leaf Village very soon.

Sakura slowly massaged warm, green chakra into her temple as the pains of a headache crept slowly into place. The hospital was allotting her a slow day, but current events gave her mind the run around these days. Things had been quite unusual as of late; she'd all but moved out of her apartment and was currently shacking up with both Ino and Shino simultaneously. But even that wasn't about to shake the image of the one and only Gaara of the Sand _sleeping_ in her bedroom floor.

Needless to say, Sakura was unsure about what action she would (or could) take with Tsunade about what happened. Could this have any effect on a peace treaty should it come into place between the two villages? The pink-haired nin realized that on such an important issue this should never have an effect, but she knew enough about the busty Hokage to imagine some kind of conflict should she mention it. It was well known fact that Tsunade had looked on the orphaned Sakura as a surrogate daughter for years now.

She rolled away from the desk in her makeshift office at the hospital; this had been a heavy burden on her shoulders ever since she'd woken up that night. That and the rumors: Shino and she were apparently dating, shacked up, and she just _had_ to be carrying his offspring, or there was some kind of scandal going on of that sort. Presently Sakura had come to ignore everything that she heard, which had worked for the time being.

"Sakura," speak of the devil.

"Why if it isn't the father of my unborn child." Shino had to pause for a moment, in which Sakura figured he was blinking behind his sunglasses. He regained his composure, however, and a pressed expression filled its place.

"You know if someone hears you, you're just encouraging those rumors." Sakura flashed a smile; of course she knew that fact very well, but it was amusing altogether teasing him. "These people," he continued, "have no lives if they insist on making up such stories. Just because you're living with me doesn't mean we're together." Sakura inwardly flinched at the thought; he was right about the living situation, and if her mother had been alive the woman would have raised a fury at her daughter's decisions while simultaneously defending her at every gossip and whisper.

"Yeah, well, we're projecting that image anyway. You know how many people witnessed us leaving the bar together that evening of our would be one-night-stand?" Once again her dark companion shook his head at her remarks. If he had been a better man, Shino thought to himself, he would have swept her off her feet after she moved in and made her realize what a great pair they made. Indeed, for all the hearsay that went around no one seemed to be disapproving of them as a couple, but that wasn't something he'd imagine Sakura would pursue. He just knew it, no matter what he felt.

"Well, it's much better that the alternative," she mumbled knowing that Shino would hear her reference no matter what. They had talked many nights about what happened with Gaara, about the night everything had changed all at once in her comfortable world. At the break of dawn the morning after, Sakura recalled sitting on the stone bench in front of the main gates in silence, an equally quiet Shino beside her. The stone cut into the backs of her legs, but you heard no complaint of her. It was a familiar place; the bench itself held many memories for her, and this was just another to add to the bunch.

He circled the desk between them and grasped her shoulder lightly with his hand. "He hasn't returned at all, has he?" Sakura shook her head; no, he hadn't. Not that she was around her house to notice. It wasn't surprising that she hadn't seen him again considering how long it had taken her to figure out he was coming at night. He'd been doing so for ages, it seemed, and she had the sand to prove it. All those days of sweeping it out the door and blaming it on Naruto... What a pain for both of them.

She had a right mind to give Gaara a good piece of her mind if he wouldn't engulf her in sand before she could get the last word out, but that wasn't what she should be thinking about. As long as he left her alone at her new residence(s), then there would be no problem and Sakura could get on with her life.

Yeah, right.

Living in Konoha never allowed a situation like that to happen.

Shino let out an inaudible sigh at his obvious discomfort with the quiet situation. He was never one for intimate moments with a girl: physical, emotional, or otherwise. Sakura reminded herself how lucky she was for having him around and what burden it must be to put up with her antics. The rosette wished she could say the same for her team members.

"I just need to put this entire thing behind me, and then I'll be able to carry on with what I was doing here." She motioned to her surroundings. With such excitement, her boxes in the makeshift office had yet to be unpacked—just like her things at Shino and Ino's places.

Shino almost smiled, "You're right. Now let's head out for lunch so you can start 'forgetting' about it all." She motioned to take his hand when there was a knock at that door.

Upon opening, they were greeted with the sight of a messenger from the Hokage's office, "Haruno, you're called at once to the Hokage's office for a meeting." He stood slightly out of breath with obvious hesitation to disclose anything further, the young man darted his eyes towards Shino for a second, "please come alone."

Sakura had parted with Shino outside the hospital with the promise of a 'rain check' on their lunch. Already the absence of his warmth, his calm state, was noticeable and she felt more alone than ever. What the Hokage had summoned her for at such short notice was beyond her at this point, but her legs raced heavily towards the tower in hopes that this wasn't going to ruin her day.

"Sakura, come in and have a seat." Tsunade's voice already commanded attention from her position in her office. Sakura had barely walked into the outer office to announce herself, but her mentor seemed to be in a hurried state. So much for not ruining her day...

"You called?"

Tsunade threw a sharp look at her for a moment, "of course I called, why else would you be here." Sakura's face fell and she dropped into a chair—this berating was unlike the Hokage, especially when it came to Sakura. "I'm not quite angry with you, Sakura. However, I am curious about something that concerns you..."

_Has she heard something?_ Sakura's mind raced... there were so many things that Tsunade could have been talking about: Shino and their 'situation', Gaara being there in Konoha—in her bedroom, no less, but she couldn't decide which was worse.

"I received some interesting papers today from Suna," she seated herself, flourishing with a full jiggle of her breasts and pushed away some of the papers to make room for her sake bottle. After pouring each of them a glass and making sure both Sakura and she had downed them, her hands threw a sheet towards her that had been sealed with the royal seal of Suna...

The Kazekage, Gaara of the Sand.

Needless to say, the breath in Sakura's lungs caught in her throat and her heart began skipping a beat. Sweaty plans grasped the edge of the paper delicately as if it would disintegrate—and she wished it would.

Tsunade didn't wait for Sakura to begin reading, "It's from Gaara. We're to go forth with a treaty as soon as Konoha can arrange it, which is good news in itself." Sakura waited for her to continue, and scanned the lower half of the 'letter' for something more close to home. And there it was.

"... requesting the presence of Haruno, Sakura at meetings and forthcoming exchange..." Etc. Sakura read aloud, but it was like another person speaking out of her mouth. First he was in her apartment at night—and he obviously wanted to be out of there as quickly as possible—and now he wanted her there when he visited _during the day_.

"Apparently your company is less 'requested' and more 'demanded'." She filled her cup up to the brim once more and down two before she topped off Sakura's. "Now what I've asked you here today to get any information out of you that I might need before the officials from Sand join us, and I find out why you're being brought into this."

The pinkette twisted her hands and tried to swallow the knot in her throat before she was no longer able to speak. "I wasn't sure if I was going to tell you about this, what with the changes between our villages' status currently in process." Her mentor urged her to continue. "But there were some incidents a while back that involved Gaara. I awoke one night to find him sleeping in the floor of my bedroom." Tsunade's eye twitched for a moment, as if she wanted to ask something, but she stayed silent.

"Weeks prior to that I noticed the only window in my bedroom was lined with sand, which I swept out. There was no other explanation for it than someone having tracked it in from somewhere. Then I woke up one night to find him there, but that's the funny thing. Every night that Shino came to visit me, it would wake me suddenly out of sleep... but when Gaara came, it was like he over powered my senses or something because I was apparently none the wiser about his being in my room."

Tsunade had merely sat back and taken it all in before she heaved a large sigh and thought about it all. What Sakura had told her was slightly disturbing, but that wasn't surprising considering the specific Kage in question. Gaara had always been a mystery to everyone that came across him, and even though his dealings as a diplomat were very polite, almost normal, he was far from being considered social to anyone. If these dealings with Sakura were true, then there had to be some ulterior motive to it all.

"These 'visits' stop and suddenly he wants to heal things with Konoha, requesting you to be present for all of them? Interesting, none the least." Sakura shot her an unamused look.

"So what are you going to do about this entire situation? Are you going to deny my involvement with the alliance...? Please?" Sakura begged.

Tsunade could only shake her head much to her intern's chagrin. "I'm afraid I cannot do that, Sakura. You may not yet realize it, but if he does have some kind of plan in store for you personally, then you're our greatest bargaining chip." Tsunade smiled, cheeks slightly red. If she had imbibed enough alcohol that she was already feeling lose and more adapt to the idea of using Sakura, then the young girl knew there would be no dealing with her until she was lucid and sober at the meetings. "Besides, I'm curious about it, aren't you?"

Sakura gaped, "No! I just want to be left alone. What about me; did you ever think about the fact that these plans could somehow be against my best interests?"

"I know you can handle it." She walked around and grabbed Sakura's chin to emphasize her point. "You're going to be there because I know that you can take care of yourself; if it were anyone else I doubt I would have as much faith."

This day had turned to crap.

Sakura looked at her watch once she exited Tsunade's office.

This day had turned to crap in less than thirty minute thanks to that damn Gaara and her ambitious mentor. When were people going to stop taking advantage of her?

Her whole body turned outside the Hokage tower in a flurry of pink and headed towards Shino's place. If there was anyone that could shed some insight on this situation, she knew it would be him.

Gaara leaned back in his chair once more. Since his nightly jaunts to Konoha had stopped, it seemed he spent every moment in his office, and it was grating on his already thin nerves. He'd had a taste of sleep, and his body (and Shukaku) was not letting him withdraw from that situation as easily as he had hoped. But the redhead couldn't help but congratulate himself on his plan.

Albeit it had been Kankuro's idea, Gaara would be overseeing all the actions taken from then on where Sakura was concerned. He figured that his brother knew a lot more than what he had previously let on, but then Gaara reminded himself that once he had Sakura there in Suna, the secret of this 'mystery woman' wouldn't be so arcane to his immediate family.

And once he had her there, Gaara knew he wouldn't have to worry about sleep (or lack of) any longer.

He just had to make it happen, and considering what this kunoichi had put him through these past few weeks, she certainly had it coming.

TYK: Hello, hello! I'm back and have not fallen off the face of the Earth, as I'm sure some of you readers have assumed. But here it is, please select the little review button to the left and let me know what you think. Thanks! R&R


	5. Requisition

Tsuyoku: Here's the fifth installment. I appreciate all the comments I got on the last chapter, which really motivated me to get this one up much quicker. Hope you enjoy it!

Sound Sleep 5

"So what else did the letter say?" Leave it to Shino to look for the bright side, though if he could find her a way out of even seeing Gaara, Sakura knew she would forever be in his debt. Not that she wasn't already with the hospitality he'd shown in the last few weeks.

"Nothing else of consequence; he merely requested my presence but didn't say anything further." And as much as Sakura would never admit it, she was slightly scared. What did he want with her? Their lunch, which the bug man had prepared while Tsunade was delivering the news, had lost its luster and appeal in favor of the disappointment she was now enduring. She sighed for the nth time in days.

"I don't know what to tell you, Sakura. Gaara has got to have something up his sleeve if he's going this far, but we don't even know why he was in your apartment to begin with. Maybe you should just go along with it." He cleared his throat and stood to submerge their dishes into the sink water. "Tsunade did say you were now their biggest bargaining chip."

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. She kept repeating that over and over in our meeting, but what about my feelings on this? No one seems too concerned that I don't want to go through with having to meet him face to face."

"Well, the way I see it," Shino paused knowing that what he was about to say would upset her. "You don't really have much of a choice here."

Her eyebrows knitted together, and she stared at him for a moment, "You sound like Tsunade. You're going to take her side on this?"

His hands ran through the dark locks on his head; calming Sakura was easier said than done in these situations, and by the flushed look on her face he knew that it wouldn't be over so quick between them. "It's not about sides, Sakura. As much as I would prefer that man never again be able to lay eyes on you, I doubt the Hokage is going to roll over at this chance to smooth things out with Suna just because you're afraid."

The rosette gaped in shock for moments—that was the most she'd ever heard Shino say at one time. Though it sucked to admit it, he was correct. The Konoha nins were taught many rules and ways of the proper ninja codes: one had said that selflessness was key to accomplishing any mission, another stated that sacrificing oneself for their village was the highest honor.

Sakura, however, doubted that when it said 'sacrifice' this was they had in mind.

"Whatever..." rising from her seat, she headed toward the front door. Shino called after her to thwart her departure, but she wasn't having any of it. "I guess I just need some time to myself to think the situation over, Shino. You're right about not having a choice in the matter, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to roll over and accept it." And she walked out.

The air in the woods was thick, uncomfortable unlike the cool, refreshing atmosphere of her hospital. Before running to the Hokage's office, she'd happily shed her doctor's robe, but the summer cardigan Sakura had worn was about to be peeled off in such heat. Between the trees she walked, pondering what would become of her life (since it no longer appeared to be hers to control) Sakura couldn't help but feel the presence of all the nature around her.

Was she alone? _No_. Slowly, her eyes traced the path her alabaster hand made as it grazed a young leaf that flourished from a tree. When she widened her senses ever so slightly Sakura noticed something familiar in the air; it was a scent so particular that there would be no mistaking where, or really who, it was coming from.

"Gaara?" The aroma had hung stale in the atmosphere of her bedroom for days and she could only place one man as the origin. But the call fell silent around her save a small echo, even thought Sakura could feel it in her mind, in her body that she hadn't been truly alone there.

Had she ever been alone since she started running from him?

"I'm quite sure that you're out here, but I have to know. I have no idea why you, Gaara of the Sand, were in my bedroom those many nights. For the life of me I cannot figure out why you would be so... interested." She paused for lack of a better word; she wasn't expecting an answer, and she wasn't disappointed when none returned. "You're returning to Konoha; why me?" Sakura lowered to the soft moss of the forest floor and pounded her fists into a group of tree roots a couple of times before sighing again in frustration.

Gaara noticed from his aerial view that she was significantly taking out her frustrations on the forest floor, and through some human spark inside a part of him that Shukaku had yet to touch, Gaara heavily debated answering her call. The more human she seemed and the more emotion this Sakura showed, another part of him grew into control. Before he could catch himself from leaping, Sakura now had a full view of her 'stalker' as he jumped into the clearing.

"It is you," her mouth trembled, mind recalling her past impressions of the violent, repugnant Gaara of their childhood. He was no longer just 'the man who slept in her bedroom without her knowledge at night'; seeing him in person again had brought the vision of him she'd made in her mind to a stunning halt and replaced it with the cold green eyes of a killer.

"Hn." Okay, first response wasn't getting either of them anywhere. "Haruno," he meant to continue, but his flustered companion beat him to it.

"What the hell do you want from me?" Gaara didn't respond at first, just stood there with him arms folded across his chest and tried to stare her down. Unfortunately for him, Sakura's adrenaline high made it roughly impossible (even in her current state of fear) for such fierce intimidation to get to her. "I asked you a question, Gaara of the Sand," she rose and walked toward him. "What is it; why were you in my room sleeping, and why did you request me to be present at the meetings?" Her demand had only a second to register in her mind before she was gripped around the neck by his sand. He felt no threat, but important or otherwise this woman was not going to disrespect him so easily.

"Listen here, woman, I don't take demands lightly, nor are you in the situation to request any information from me." His sand ran over her arms and legs tingling each individual hair and joint while Sakura realized that at one deadly thought from the man in front of her, she would be crushed within its grasp. Through her moving prison, the kunoichi just stared back at him with fear mixed into confusion and anger. Even if her mouth had been free, she wouldn't be able to tell you if she'd say something to Gaara or remain quiet in hopes that he'd give something away. Of course, she hadn't time to ponder it, for Gaara continued, "You will be there at the meetings at my request not only because you have to but because you might be interested in the topic of discussion, which greatly concerns you.

"And what makes you think that's going to get me to come?" The sand had thankfully moved aside for a moment, thought she could already feel some of the grains in her increasingly dry mouth.

Gaara closed in on her still trapped figure and looked in her green eyes. His own might have seemed similar to her own in color had they not been glazed over with an apathetic and cruel look. "Considering," his warm breath floated over her face, her mouth once again being covered by his weapon of choice. "you're too curious about this matter to miss it, I think you'll end up showing. And I'm going to add—if you try to run from me, I'll come after you. Wouldn't want to resort to such tactics, would we?" For good measure Gaara waited until Sakura understood that it hadn't been a rhetorical question.

She shook her head side to side, amazed at how the sand wouldn't let her struggle, but when he wanted her response it was as movable as air. The towering form over her stood back. He was surprised at himself; he knew he could be ruthless, but even he was amazed how this woman made him act. But people always resorted to desperate moves when around someone that had something they wanted.

He sank slowly back into the rest of the forest along with his sand leaving Sakura to percolate over everything he said. Gaara was right in a way, she thought. Even _she_ was too damn curious to miss this, though after this encounter the pinkette was dreading it even more.

Gaara had mentally punched himself for even considering leaving Suna and heading to Konoha to find her, let alone doing it. He'd been sitting in his private quarters willing just five minutes of sleep, but it had never come. Shukaku would normally have jumped at the chance to take over in Gaara's vulnerable state, but ever since that first night he'd jumped into her window, the demon was less and less of a raging beast threatening to take over and kill everyone like the old days. Not that he was going to share that fact with anyone.

People feared him as long as he was a mystery to them, but it seemed that this new side of him was just as mysterious to himself as he was to any outsider. Never in his life had he craved something so powerfully, save his childhood yearning for the unconditional love of another, and if he'd been anyone else, Gaara might have been scared—though Gaara of the Sand was never scared of anything—including himself.

Once he'd returned, the torn man spotted Temari outside his offices seemingly having an innocent snack, but a closer look revealed her eyes glancing toward the main gates every now and then. Gaara guessed that she was waiting for someone, and by the look of her face when he arrived, he assumed that her wait was over. The redheaded Kage had vowed to avoiding his siblings and teammates even more than usual since Kankuro had started poking into his private life. No doubt he'd let Temari in on the little rumor that their younger brother might have found a girl.

"Gaara." Temari stated when he walked within range of her voice. Damn it all, Temari and Kankuro used to be so trepid when it came to just talking to him. The hearsay of this 'romance' of his had instilled a sense of humanity in his image, and he didn't like it one bit.

"How was your trip to... where did you say you had gone again?" Psh, as if he would fall for that. Gaara knew better when it came to petty tricks.

"I didn't say."

Temari mentally stomped her foot. She'd finally gotten up the gall to mention it to her brother, and he just denied it like it's nothing!

She trotted after him toward the entrance to his offices and their private quarters as her eyebrow rose, "Earlier we received some information from Konoha by messenger, who raised the matter of number of people at the meeting… among other things."

Konoha—strange how that place held something of his interest now. Gaara almost stopped completely in his tracks as she finished her sentence, and Temari was not so dense as to miss his shift in mood. Kankuro had mentioned something about Konoha striking a nerve in him, but she'd needed to witness for herself whether or not their brother would fall for someone in that particular village.

Why did it always have to be the difficult one?

Just as well, who in Konoha would he fall for... or would fall for him?

Temari was fairly sure that with her mention of Konoha she'd hit on something deeper, but she feared that death might be fast upon her if she said anything about the mood he was in at the moment.

"Were you listening?" Temari shook her head at his question and looked at her brother oddly. "I asked whether all the appropriate papers were delivered to my office?" Temari just nodded. "Were any of them open; has anyone seen their contents?'

She grimaced for a moment, "No, they haven't." Why hadn't she thought to look at them or ask the messenger about the meeting further? Her investigative skills were lacking these days, something the blonde was intending to build on as her scrutiny continued. He looked at her carefully, letting her know that he didn't trust her and was watching her every mood.

Temari bit her lip knowing that Kankuro already had Gaara on guard about everything. How was she going to pull this off?

As soon as he arrived in his office, a very anxious Kage strode over to the stack of papers decorating his table. Although seeing so many documents on his desk was a very common observation, his expectations rose slightly. It was as if he'd sent off bad news and was very anxious about finding out the response. Though he knew that the Hokage, Lady Tsunade, was less than likely to refuse Sakura's involvement, it gave his insides a little preemptive jump about whether or not his intimidation would appear as powerful on parchment as it was in person.

'_Kage, with the recent reception of your letter proposing a treaty, I must concede that these dealings will proceed with the utmost cooperation from the Village Hidden in the Leaves.._.' Tsunade had gone on a lengthy diverge about the profits of a union for both countries, but Gaara barely skimmed over the words, more interested in a subject that hit closer to home.

'_On the matter concerning the companionship of one Sakura Haruno, I have spoken with Ms. Haruno myself, and she seemed as eager as I to advance our dealing and will gladly make an appearance when our nations convene_.'

Gaara set down the letter with a smirk gracing his lips. The sheer statement or implication that Haruno (or the Hokage herself) were at all 'eager' to see him made the Kazekage chuckle inside. He had personally spoken with the pinkette, and it was obvious that Sakura held just as much disdain and fear for him as she did when they were adolescents. Nevertheless, as long as the redhead's plan was going full and steady in the right direction, he couldn't care less regarding the feelings of others: especially those of the stubborn Sakura.

He sat down carefully and picked up his pen. With as steady hand, Gaara quickly drafted a makeshift time and date for the meetings. which would finally allow him a good night's rest for the first time in a few very long weeks. With that finished, there was plenty of other work to be done, and the more papers piling the large desk, the more impeding they would become to his contrivance.

In the meantime, the young Haruno girl had hulled up in her own apartment for a spell's rest after the training session she had put herself through. After the less than revealing meeting with Gaara in the secluded woods, an encounter that had left her mostly confused, Sakura shared the whole ordeal with her roommate, who suggested she find a pastime to take her mind off things for the time being. If there was any situation that Sakura knew would push Gaara to the last place in her mind it would definitely be asking Naruto for some training. From experience in the old days, there had been times (mostly after being beaten and driven to exhaustion) in which it was hard enough to remember her full name much less think about her current stalker.

The blond, loud, orange fiend she called a friend had been scarfing carious foods down at a Ramen Stand when she requested his help. "Well, Sakura, it's about time you ask me! I haven't seen hide or hair of you since you got that hospital job. Guess the old hag is working you way too much." Then he'd received a large, albeit nostalgic bump on the head.

"You know better than to insult my mentor to my face like that stupid. Now let's get going; I need a good workout."

Truthfully, Sakura needed a workout like she needed Gaara to demand more of her than he already had, but alternatively the only other option included thinking, which would lead to images of Gaara. So her spar with Naruto lasted a good hour, hour and a half. Just enough to get her tired and ready to collapse into bed.

She looked over by her window from the position on her bed. The furniture, she remembered, had once felt softer, but such an impression could be blamed in the uncomfortable feeling that looking at that particular spot in this room gave her. It was appalling to think of how many times he leapt over that sill, which was almost always open when she slept. And Sakura had been none the wiser. Anyone else and she'd always woken up, senses alert, but something was amiss with all of that. He obviously hadn't set off any alarms in her slumber, which could only mean one of two things: a) he was really covert on a whole different level than she'd even seen before, or b) that her own body didn't sense him as a threat to her. The rosette highly doubted the latter in the sense that Shino hadn't yet achieved that state in her mind, and she was more comfortable around him than most people.

She couldn't help but shutter at the offending leftover sand as she never moved her eyes off it. Wasn't he in perfect control of the sand? So how had he slipped up and left this reminder that he'd been there?

"I have to clean this up." Her feet managed to collect a few of the grains on their soles when she squatted down to sweep the annoying scraps into her hand and toss outside the window. "Unless you're planning on continuing these nightly visits, Kazekage. If so, I needn't bother to have tidied up." the pink-haired nin spoke to no one in particular, save the warm air. She expected and hoped for no response; the only reason she was currently standing in her apartment was the fact that one-per-day visits were as far as she was going with Gaara, and she assumed the feeling was mutual. Unless he was really after her for her personality, Sakura wasn't going to make the mistake of letting her guard down around him, but perhaps he was going to leave her alone until they debated things out in the meetings.

"Hey you up there..." Her eyes glances to the figure standing right off the road near her window. She couldn't quite make out who they were in the small amount of light the sun had left behind, but they could obviously see her perfectly while she leaned out of her niche. After a moment of adjusting her eyes, Sakura's widened slightly in shock. If the revelations of the past few weeks were a burden on her shoulders already, this new arrival was certainly an unexpected turn in the whole scheme.

Temari had stormed Kankuro's rooms after being shunned by their sibling. He looked up from cleaning the dried blood off joints in his puppet (she didn't want to know) and sat down on an armchair like this form of communication with her oldest brother was common. "It's something to do with Konoha alright." The painted man on the other side of the space gave her his full attention for the time being and gestured for her elaboration. "The messenger today delivered those documents from Konoha, right? I let him know when he finally arrived back in town, and it looked as if that struck something in his mind. Gaara went straight up to his office to deal with them."

"What part of that is unusual to you?"

"That's not the point, Kankuro! We should have taken a look at those papers," she huffed.

"And break the royal seal on them? I don't think so; you're better off trying to sneak a peek at them now that he's opened them, but how you're going to do that, I have no idea." He picked up his rag and resumed cleaning weapons and such until his sister interjected for a second time.

"I've already thought about that, Kankuro, and that's where you're going to come in." He raised his eyebrows in shock at her. "You get to sneak in there next time he's away and find out who those papers are talking about. Obviously there's something unusual about them, otherwise he wouldn't be so on edge." Kankuro paled through his thick makeup, impossible as it seemed. Was she really saying this?

"I don't imagine we're going to think of anything that would get him out of his office, we'll just have to start checking everything... What?" Temari couldn't have been more obvious if she'd lit a light bulb over her head. The girl had some kind of notion—he just hoped that it was as devious and effective as all of her other brainstorms.

"The messenger."

"What about the messenger?"

"Do you feel like intimidating anyone today, Kankuro?"

The growth of anything remotely resembling vegetation started not ten or so miles from the limits of Suna, where it started small and then increasingly grew into vast shade for those not used to the desert regions. It was about that point where Konoha's messenger stopped his quest to take Suna's reply to the Hokage and emptied his shoes of sand. He huffed in the heat, sweating beads that slipped down his face at every movement he made.

The young man stilled when he heard a cracking branch not too far from him. He looked up and saw some dark figure in a nearby tree, and with his attention focused on Kankuro, Temari made a beeline for the young man's pack.

When he noticed that he had multiple attackers, the low level nin jumped sideways barely avoiding a blow from her large fan. "Who are you?"

"Relax, dude, we're from Suna," replied Kankuro whilst her moved in on the guy. "We've come to escort you the rest of the way to Konoha." As soon as the nin relaxed and let down his guard, Temari knocked his ass out cold.

"Shouldn't have been so trusting," she rifled through his pack to find a bundled message from their Kage with his royal seal, which she carefully lifted up as to not break it. "Now, let's see what we can get from this," the blonde said as she stepped over the messenger and leaned to tree to read.

"What's it say?"

"The only name mentioned besides the Hokage is Haruno; apparently he is 'satisfied that the conditions have been met and will be looking forward to meeting with them to consider the details of such a treaty.' That's most of it." She motioned toward the unconscious emissary, "take him and the reply to the Hokage's office when we reach Konoha. I'll go find her and see what light she can shed.

Temari could have giggled inside; this was just like being a detective! Solving mysteries was fun, especially when it meant putting their lives on the line as they investigated their fearful brother's love life.

And this was where Temari had ended up after arriving in Konoha. "You're Haruno, right?" The girl did look familiar; the pink hair was a little hard to forget once you met her.

"Yes, I am… Temari." The blonde smirked; her reputation preceded her obviously.

"You probably have an idea as to why I'm here."

Sakura was well aware, so she debated inviting her up on the off chance Temari was here on some kind of orders from her brother. In the end, however, curiosity always wins over...

Kankuro laid the still comatose man on a couch outside the office of Tsunade. Her foyer seemed like a good place to drop him off since it was usually crawling with people. Her assistant ran over first—concerned for the guy but still weary of Kankuro.

"I'm just here to deliver from Suna. Your harbinger passed out in the desert heat."

Tsuyoku: wow, I can't believe that I managed to get this one up so fast. I think I discovered a better way for me to personally write—therefore everything just comes together at the end, but we'll see. I tried to edit this at four in the morning, so if there are too many mistakes, please don't get frustrated. I'll beta it later, and if it's too bad I'll repost a better version. Thank you guys! Please, please R&R it's really helping me put out chapters! ^.^


	6. Forcibly

Tsuyoku: I was pretty satisfied with this last chapter, and although I should be working on another installment of CopyCat - alas, I am back here again typing up my rambling outlines that I jot down while I'm at work... I know, I know, it's brilliant (in a slacker sort of way).

On a more serious note, however, I would definitely encourage any of you NejiSaku fans to check out my CopyCat fic. I was actually exercising one day, and the idea for that fic just came to me. Talk about motivation to exercise!

Oh, and I edited Chapter 5 just a little. I found some spelling and action mistakes while reading through it again - nothing really different there, but ugh, I really need a beta.

Sound Sleep 6

The blonde stepped over the threshold, Sakura stepped aside with her mind wavering about why the demon's sister was at her house, especially at night. Sakura poured herself a drink; the offer of another for her guest was declined, which was probably for the best. Should Temari say something out of line, Sakura couldn't promise her drink would stay in the cup—a dangerous thought but very appropriate for her mood.

"I expect you can imagine why I'm here," she settled on the neglected couch that Sakura suspected could use a little dusting; she shook her head.

"No, I'm not really sure why you're here," Sakura was tired of out of town visitors every time she made the decision to come home.

Temari blinked at a loss for words; Sakura was supposed to go on and explain what Gaara had been doing in Konoha, but it seemed that she was a bit more headstrong than Temari had expected.

"Well, Gaara's been making a few trips to Konoha recently, and I have good reason to suspect it's something to do with you of all people."

The pink haired girl shrugged, "I guess it does, but don't ask me; his visits were a mystery to me up until two weeks ago. Why, are you here to explain his behavior to me?" It was said with slightly more scorn than she'd meant, thought if the tone in her voice was enough to get the pig tailed girl to spill the beans then she was apathetic about how it affected her guest.

"Quite the opposite actually, _I _want to know what you're doing with my brother." Now it was Sakura's turn to be put off, as she could feel the muscles in her eyes begin to twitch. What was this woman talking about?

"I'm not... whoa, wait a second. _I'm_ not doing anything with _your_ brother, and to tell you the truth, I really would rather he'd leave me alone." She stood up and paced the room while mumbling to herself, which caused Temari's eyebrow to shift slightly. "You've got to be kidding me: waking up to Gaara of all people asleep in my room, being 'requested' at such formal meetings when he's in town, I'm just tired of being taken advantage of all the time! You need to go tell your brother to back off."

"What did you say?" Temari suddenly stood up in a flash that Sakura had a pulse of fear; she didn't want to take on the fan user in her apartment. The pink one took a moment to look confused.

"He needs to back off..?" Sakura said with a little less backing than before.

"Before that."

"I'm tired of being taken—" a shake of the head. "He was sleeping... sleeping in my room" Sakura realized what Temari had wanted to hear.

"You'd better not be lying about that, Haruno." Temari stepped from the couch with a hand on her weapon, hesitating in the slightest. "That's not funny."

"I'm not joking," Sakura would have used Temari's last name for effect, but if the girl even had one Sakura was unaware of it. "Why would I joke about that? He's been plaguing my life for weeks now."

Both the girls took a moment and returned to their seats never taking eyes off of the other. Temari, it seemed, was for the moment satisfied that Sakura wasn't lying. "So you have no idea what your brother has been coming to Konoha for almost every night?"

"I don't know if you realize, but when I say 'brother' it's referring to blood only. He doesn't exactly share anything with us. I'm only here talking to you because I accosted a messenger from Konoha into coughing up the letter he's written to your Kage. It mentioned you, and here I am following the lead." She paused for a second and fixated Sakura with a long look. "Now tell me everything you know." Sakura finally began from the beginning, telling Temari of waking up with Gaara being there to his requisition of her, all the way to the downright stalking.

"He was sleeping and Shukaku didn't take over? That's very strange; that it happened so many times yet nothing came of him being unconscious." Her brown eyes stared at the girl. "It must have something to do with you; what are you?"

A knock pounded at the door causing both heads to turn.

"Kankuro, I appreciate you coming down here personally, but did you really have to knock Kaleb out?" The Hokage gave him a look that said, 'heat exhaustion doesn't leave bumps'.

"It wasn't me; it was Temari, and can you really blame us for being curious? Gaara doesn't share information with anyone, especially when it's something personal. What's going on with him and that Haruno girl?" Tsunade sighed and sipped slowly at her rice wine.

"I've been trying to discover that myself," her gaze returned to the Sand nin. "Do you know anything? I realize that you're not here as the messenger, but I need to know what he wants with Sakura before Gaara brings it up at the meeting." Kankuro took the seat across from the motherly Kage—they weren't exactly friends, but the painted man had a habit of treating any acquaintance as if they were family. Blame it on having the disconnected Gaara for a brother.

"Temari is talking with Sakura as we speak. When the letter mentioned her name, she ran over there to investigate." He scratched his head, "I'm just hoping that their personalities didn't clash. I've heard about Haruno." Tsunade nodded solemnly and pushed a button on her desk with a manicured finger.

"Yes, Tsunade," the female voice answered on the other end.

"Send for Temari of the Sand and Sakura; they should be at Sakura's apartment right now, and I want them here as soon as possible."

"It will be done." End conversation.

"I'm going to congregate the four of us in my office and hopefully we can figure this out." Tsunade leaned back in silence and waited for her guests to arrive; Kankuro meanwhile made him self comfortable and even helped out to some of the Hokage's sake, which earned him a good glare from her hard brown eyes.

For what seemed like hours, the seconds ticked by stretching long and tall until after a good ten minutes marked the arrival of Temari and Sakura. The awkwardness of the two revealed they'd been talking about the Gaara situation, but Tsunade couldn't wait to finally pull facts and disclose the real truth. "Glad you two could make it," Tsunade motioned to any available seating left. "Temari and Kankuro, I must add before we begin that you are on Konoha soil; entering under the pretenses of delivering a message actively violates our village's laws since Leaf and Sand do not have an outstanding treaty. However, what we're here to talk about is your brother." She rose from her seat, unable to sit still any longer, and walked towards her personal armchair in the corner. Perching on its arm Tsunade continued, "When it comes to you, Sakura, I'm very concerned at what Suna's (or more correctly Gaara's) interests in you are."

"Temari and I might possibly have an idea." The blonde girl looked towards Sakura; they hadn't had time to talk about it, but before the knock at the door Sakura had mentioned something that fit so perfectly. Tsunade had no choice but to motion for her to continue. "When I woke up that one night, Gaara was sleeping in my room, as I mentioned to you earlier. The evidence of sand in my room for weeks before I noticed it leads me to believe he was sleeping in my room all those nights. Temari asked if the demon, Shukaku, had ever been released."

"And he hadn't because if such a thing was let loose the entire village would have been at stake," Temari continued.

"So, what you're saying is?"

"That Sakura somehow has the power to calm Shukaku. If he hasn't been released when Gaara is sleeping in Sakura's apartment, then what else can it be? That's why my brother wants her so badly; she's allowing him to get the sleep that he's wanted since the demon was sealed within him."

Tsunade toiled this over in her head for a while, just thinking about the possibilities of Gaara coveting Sakura for something so—so human. Here she'd been thinking about him wanting Sakura for her chakra control or the medical benefits she might bring to Suna, which were both good reasons he might bargain for Sakura's companionship. "Sakura, he wants to take you back with him to Suna."

"What? I thought he hadn't said anything about me except requesting me to be at the treaty meeting," Sakura stood up in shock.

"I'm sorry; I didn't want to say anything unless he proposed it at the meeting, but instead of merely asking you to be present at the council rulings Gaara also asked as part of a basis for the treaty you would have to accompany him back to Suna for a time no shorter than six months." Tsunade hadn't wanted it to come out this way; she'd been trying to think of some way that Sakura could stay, but as the leader it was adamant that they go forth with this treaty. And if Suna wanted Sakura then how was she to refuse?

"Six months? I don't think so. Even ambassador stays are subject only to three months at most; what were you thinking hiding this from me?"

"I wanted to see if he might say something about what he required of you in Suna before making any arrangements to send you to that country. Look, it's not something I have complete control over, Sakura." Tsunade was almost pleading with her like a parent would when telling their child what was best for them, but Sakura wasn't having any of it. The brother and sister duo watched silently from their seats as the rosette paced along an invisible line trying to take this all in. "Without you there is no treaty. I tried. I've been thinking of what I can do to keep you here where you're needed, but there just might be no way out of this in the end."

"So you're just going to throw me to the wolves so you and Suna can hook up?" Sakura yelled from across the room.

"Listen, Sakura Haruno, this has everything to do with affairs of state, and when it comes to that how can I put you in front of everyone else in Konoha? I can't, not when it comes to the benefit of the people. Better to subject one person to Suna rather than leave the entirety of our people to an economy that would fail without outside help!"

Sakura looked furious, tears breaking barriers at her eyes and falling listlessly down reddened cheeks; she fell into her chair and looked at the floor for the time being. Tsunade was tired of all this arguing, but even if Sakura insisted on pouting like a child, the girl had to realize that her hands were tied.

"It seems to me that you aren't looking at this from a more optimistic stand point," Temari interjected. "So what if Sakura has to go to Suna for six months; it's not forever. And have you thought about all the good you might be able to do for Suna with this mission?" Sakura tore her eyes from the floor and looked at the girl. "This may seem cliche to mention, but Sand's medical system has been on the fritz more and more lately. Possibly you might be able to do some good in that aspect." The slightly older girl looked at Sakura from her seat. What was she whining about? If it was for the good of her country to take a long term hiatus in another, then Temari knew she would have no problems in accepting.

"Just think of it as your mission, Haruno."

"You may not end up going at all," Tsunade said, though her eyes showed no hope in that department.

"Whatever," Sakura said, standing up once more. "I've had enough of politics for now, but if it's a mission that you want then I accept. Don't, however, think for a second that this is over." Sakura had looked straight at Tsunade before she'd left the office without a dismissal. The blonde Kage could understand her anger, but having had no children of her own she hardly had the background to deal with an angered child rather than a disgruntled nin.

"Are there any other terms of the treaty that Gaara or you have yet to share with us?" Temari turned to their host once more.

"He will be here in two days to discuss the proceedings before we get the council together and finally draft something, but besides the news I just exploded onto Sakura there aren't many other alarming details. I can let you in on some of the messages we've been sending back and forth, but you'll have to return to your country before tonight. Konoha cannot be boarding Suna villagers until everything has gone through." The two nodded as Tsunade continued and explained to them what Gaara had been hiding.

"And she couldn't even tell you about it?" Shino asked after Sakura had told him the entire story. She'd run back to his place as soon as she was able to escape the grounds of the Hokage's office. She submerged herself into the bathwater reveling in its powers to lesson the cold chill in her bones. Shino sat outside the open door of his bathroom, letting Sakura have her privacy while she told him everything and tried to hide the fact that she was adding water to the tub with every hiccup.

She tore a moist hand from the water and wiped a red cheek once more. "She didn't until today, and even then I'm not sure why she revealed it. Although I'm assuming she would rather me make an outrage in the comforts of her office than in front of the council when the time came." Hiccup.

"..." He paused. "You're really going to Suna for this? For him?"

"I don't see a way around it. He has obviously got the upper hand in this situation—most like Gaara to go for the kill when its something he wants. But I've never seen him act _so_ human and yet _so_ disconnected at the same time. He's a lot different than when we were kids, Shino."

The bug man just sighed. He had been hiding the cherry blossom from the Sandman for weeks now, but it seemed he was not doing it well enough. And now what? He was just going to pluck her from the stem, take her back with him to wither in the desert heat where no blossoms ever flourished? He forced his fist into the wood flooring, catching Sakura's silent attention from the other room. She could only see his left shoulder, wearing the same neutral shirt he'd always donned, but she could somehow sense the rage in his eyes; rage that up until only an hour ago she was feeling in every two-hundred something bones in her body.

"I don't want to leave," her lips motioned as the entirety of her figure submersed itself into the warm water, eyes closed and oblivious to all other senses.

"I don't want you to leave either."

It wasn't until the next evening that a caravan of council members and other significant figures from the Village of the Sand arrived at the large front gate of Konoha, Village Hidden in the Leaves. Gaara leapt one final step from a tree and set a mute foot onto the soft dirt and grass. This terrain was unlike that of his homelands, and even though he had grown accustomed to the land in this village over the past couple of months he couldn't help but have an odd thought.

How would Sakura enjoy a stay at his home for once versus Gaara coming to her?

The night was still young, but the dark depths of the trees and crevices between buildings told what time it was getting to be. He wondered slightly if there would be any visiting the Hokage should she be in her office this late... since he wasn't used to sleeping Gaara, for the longest time, didn't understand other peoples' schedules and when or not they would be available.

Instead, however, he sensed a few figures heading toward them and suddenly Tsunade among others dropped from the sky in front of them. As diplomatic as she may have acted, Gaara had only half listened to her pretty words, which were only for the benefit of entertaining the whims of his companions. After a short speech, they were led to the Ambassador suites located in the building just opposite the Hokage's office. Once settled in, Gaara had until the following day to prepare for his fight with Tsunade. He decided it might be worthwhile to seek out more enchanting company.

At a glance, the rooms were a comfortable luxury that many people in Konoha had yet to experience, but Gaara threw but one glance toward the soft bed, instead heading for the desk in the corner. It seemed the desk was more familiar than the bed would ever be.

"What exactly did you need to discuss with me?" Temari walked in front of the pinkette, Kankuro in back, as Sakura was led toward the Hokage's grounds.

"It pertains to the treaty; that's all we can tell you now. You'll know soon enough when we get there." Sakura might say she was scared: being led away from Shino's place by people that she barely knew in the long hours of the night. "We can talk in our suite; not out here."

The elevator was engulfed in an uncomfortable silence between the three, yet Sakura seemed to be the only one suffering so. "Um, okay."

There was something just wrong about this whole thing. Inside Sakura knew she wasn't able to trust these two no matter how much confidence Tsunade placed in them, but what was she supposed to tell them when they had information about... well Sakura didn't exactly know what it pertained to; they just showed up at Shino's and lured her out saying they had more information on the treaty. She was about to find out.

The elevator dinged and opened to reveal a rich, satisfying hallway lined with doors that she assumed led to even more beautiful rooms. In all her time with the Hokage, never had Sakura seen the inside of these buildings... No wonder they'd been so successful in the past with other countries—look at the luxurious surroundings their visitors stayed in.

"Ah, here we are," Temari looked at the number on the door. "We'll just open the door here and-" Sakura was shoved into the room, landing on the soft carpet as the door was slammed shut behind her. The noise was replaced with an eerie silence while Sakura breathed in the fibers of the floor. It made her want to sneeze, but that was pushed toward the back of her mind while Sakura forced herself up on two legs.

The room was certainly nice, but a sweep of the room entirely revealed a lone silent figure sitting on a table as if he was waiting for her arrival.

"Um..."

Sakura leaned back on the door as if the gateway would open at her will. She looked toward the only other figure in the room sitting on the desk almost as surprised as she was, his eyes only showing a hint of alarm at her sudden appearance. The sound of her breathing was obvious even from across the room, and he could feel more than hear the pounding of a thickened heartbeat in her chest. For moments neither of them moved, just stared at each other in awe.

Tsuyoku: Well, I guess I would consider this a cliffy... mostly. It is for me since I don't really have the habit of building too much suspense before ending my chapters, or do I? Hmm, idk. Please, please review - let me know what you think about this installment with the characters all on edge about something or another. Reviews are always much appreciated and believe it or not they help us writers go a bit faster.

Oh, and sorry it sometimes does take a few weeks between posting chaps, I'm working on both this and CopyCat at the same time, and I'm swip swapping posting chapters for both. Thanks! TYK


	7. Captive

Tsuyoku: Well, Ch 7 is up, and this time around, I can guarantee that she's going to be shipped to Suna. What? I spoiled it for you? Nah, I bet you guys have had this in mind the whole time. So what's she going to do about it? Wait and see.

Sound Sleep Ch 7

_Sakura leaned back on the door as if the gateway would open at her will. She looked toward the only other figure in the room sitting on the desk almost as surprised as she was, his eyes only showing a hint of alarm at her sudden appearance. The sound of her breathing was obvious well across the room, and he could feel more than hear the pounding of a thickened heartbeat in her chest. For moments neither of them moved, just stared at each other in awe._

Well, mostly Sakura.

Gaara had begun to sensitize himself to her presence whether he like it or not. It was driving him mad knowing that she had this power but was unwilling to help him gain a little sleep, but every time she was near she invaded all his senses as if somewhere deep inside the demon was trying to take in as much of her as it could, this meeting no exception. He was drowning in the urge to sink into the bed and rest.

Her green eyes skimmed over his position on the desk: chair scooted out, one drawer open, and Gaara sitting cross-legged on top as if he had been meditating before she was thrown into the room. Wearily, Sakura moved from the door and sat on the bed, which was well across the space from the Kazekage. And that was fine with her for now, as long as he stayed that way.

"Gaara," she knew that he could be just as talkative as she could, considering their meeting in the woods not too long ago. Unconsciously the demon watched her small hand lift and graze the skin of her neck as if she was almost reliving his assault; he nodded in response. Obviously Sakura had expected something verbally to give her an idea of what to say, but he offered her no quick out. What kind of conversation do you make with a being such as Gaara of the Sand? "Why am I here?"

He shrugged slightly, "I really have no idea."

Sakura looked unconvinced. "Really?" Her feet shifted to a cross-legged position like his, "You didn't put your brother and sister up to kidnapping me and forcing me into a room with you, the person who's been trying to get alone with me for a long time?" The red head shook his head.

"No, I did not, nor do I appreciate the third degree interrogation."

Temari looked at Kankuro from their position on the other side of the door. She felt slightly guilty for eavesdropping on them, but even her other brother had insisted they press their ears to the door and finally get some answers. They heard the weight of the desk shift slightly as Gaara stood, but without visual aid the duo wasn't able to figure out what he was doing.

Sakura pressed hard into the firm headboard as the man crossed the room to sit next to her on the bed. Next to her! She shrunk her lithe form into the very corner of her side of the mattress, aware that should she stand he might jump over the bed and follow her. Nonetheless, she wasn't as relaxed as Gaara was, but he wasn't actively staring at her so the young girl could almost breathe a sigh of relief while shifting onto the bed and mimicking him in his forward stare.

After a good thirty minutes of this, however, Sakura was starting to give herself a headache. It wasn't easy trying to shove her eyes into the very corner of their sockets to keep sights on Gaara, who had yet to move. Finally he did move; shifting, sliding almost, his shoulders met contact with her own, and even though Sakura was about to jump completely out of her skin in the dimming room, she didn't make a peep. With a quick turn of her head it revealed that Gaara's eyes were closed.

'Oh Kami! He's gone to sleep... What am I supposed to do now?" She took a minute to study him in a relaxed position. His eyes closed, invisible eyebrows were at ease, locks of burnt rose falling into his face, which looked much younger as he slept. She could have gasped at the beautiful, boyish creature leaning on her shoulder. Had this been a movie set, or even possibly a different situation between them, Sakura might have inclined her head on top of his, but this wasn't and she couldn't forget that. As uncharacteristic as it was for Gaara to be sleeping on a woman's shoulder, just to add to that he moaned a little in his slumber. 'Moaned?' Sakura gasped in bewilderment at the nearly vulnerable noise; big mistake.

The small noise awoke Gaara from the relaxing and rewarding sleep, and he was out on the war path for the origin. His head rose from her small shoulder and his palm (instead of sand) met with her neck as he pinned her down onto the bed. Gaara didn't register what he was doing for the first few seconds, but in the blurry sight before him his vision came back. Her cheeks were flushed the color of her hair and she was breathing particularly shallow with his weight on her, but Sakura wasn't struggling; she knew better than to do something so futile.

Without the burden of sleep in his past, Gaara had never dealt with what's known as a 'hazy head' that some people suffered from upon waking, but since he'd never had it before, Gaara certainly wasn't thinking straight. For the first time, Haruno looked like a woman before him.

And from what he'd heard from Kankuro, women were something to trifle with when it came to emotions. If he really wanted this girl to stay by his side and allow her power to wash over him at night so he might succumb to sweet hibernation, he was going to have to tread carefully—or maybe this was just the sleep wearing off. Kankuro had talked about women getting too attached after his brother had 'just started to have fun with them' or however he had put it. So that meant?

Sakura was about to say something with the little breath she had in her lungs until Gaara shifted his hand from her throat and his weight from on top of her. Beautiful sweet breath filled her lungs until she was able to exhale brilliantly until noticing the man still hovering above her. He seemed to be weighing something in his mind, though what Gaara might be thinking about in this particular position Sakura was not prepared to guess.

'Should I kiss her? Isn't that what Kankuro said... that they started to get attached once he kissed them, or more?' Truthfully, while it wasn't a completely horrid idea, Gaara wasn't used to such intimate contact—that was out of his comfort zone. Just as his mind turned over a new thought he registered Sakura letting out a breath. It was enough to break his reverie, and Gaara shifted off the bed and out the door in one swift motion. Sakura just lay there diagonally on the bed confused. Had Gaara almost kissed her there? He was becoming more and more of an enigma to her... He obviously needed her presence, though that was confirmed when she looked down at his sleeping form.

What else would he need someone like her for?

Sakura closed her eyes, not caring that she was drifting to sleep in Gaara's suite. He owed her much more than just this luxurious bed, but for now she'd take it.

The large door to the council room slammed behind her. Obviously her portion of the discussion was over and she was no longer needed. It was official: Sakura Haruno was to be shipped off to Suna.

And what was worse? The council men hadn't even blinked an eye. Tsunade was the only one who had fought to keep her there or at least had the sense to question them about their intentions. The answers were vague at best.

That didn't matter anymore. Her fate was sealed: wax in place, Gaara had placed his seal on the chains that now bound her to him. Metaphorically of course, for Sakura wasn't so stubborn than restraint was necessary to cart her off... yet. Gaara hadn't said much in the entire meeting—he didn't have to. One whiff of a treaty in their nostrils and the council members of Konoha would agree to anything without any real arguing.

Guess there wasn't anything left to do but pack. Her head bowed sullenly and she allowed a small jiggle of her chin before trudging along with tears threatening to rear their watery heads. Shino wasn't going to like this, but what could she do? Treat it like a mission as Temari had said? Sure, but what about Sakura?

No one was thinking about Sakura or what she wanted: Tsunade and her politics, Gaara and his lust for sleep, and even Suna had something to gain from her skills. Was she whining too much; should she just suck it up and take it like a ninja would?

Her deft hands all but threw various undershirts and uniforms into the case which was first stocked with kunai and other weapons of choice should she have to really defend herself from anyone in Suna, Gaara or otherwise. She contemplated stocking some medical gear if it was true that she was suppose to work in the hospital under false pretenses. She wasn't going there to heal people or forward their skills in medical chakra control. No, Sakura Haruno was being slugged all the way to Suna to be the bitch of one Gaara of the Sand so that he could sleep.

Wasn't that his calling card? Insanity due to insomnia?

Shino watched from the doorway, arms crossed and silence as usual. Sakura could feel the tension, feel how he was obviously trying to think of something to say; he was terrified of her leaving, especially when she had to deal with Gaara. He pondered: would Gaara want to sleep in the room with her every night? In her bed?

He was furious at the thought of Gaara taking advantage of her like that. The bug man had half a mind to walk over there and just rip the bag from her small, ineffectual hands and demand that she stay there with him. Suna would survive; Konoha would survive. They would be fine.

"Sakura, think about this; don't go."

_Oh_, she closed her eyes, if there was any way she could stay with a man and his silky voice like that she would. Shivers haunted her spine for a moment to humor her situation a bit. What might she think of this situation had Shino and she actually completed their one night stand? What would Tsunade have done differently; probably nothing. The Hokage would have told her that a relationship with another nin was an expendable thing... she inwardly shook her head.

"I don't want to, Shino," she approached him. "I really meant what I said in the tub the other night; if it were in my power to stay here... with you," she gulped. "I'd choose."

He stepped forward to hug his arms around her, enveloping Sakura into a warmth that was unlike anything she'd experienced before.

"And if I could ever come to you?" Sakura pulled back from his embrace and looked into his eyes with confusion. "If I could ever come to you, save you from Suna's grasp, could I?"

"If only," Sakura imagined his riding in on some wave of beetles to come save her. Apart from the chill the thought of bugs gave her, underneath that Sakura felt a longing. Could he save her? "If only you could, Shino."

He just squeezed her harder yet.

Sakura had more than enjoyed the small get together with friends the night before. Without Naruto trying to shove alcohol down her throat left and right, it would have been even more fun, but they all showed their support, and each and every one hugged her in private, tears slipping down all faces as it ended...

Currently the endless glare of Gaara caught with Shino's strong counter as the demon husk wondered what this other nin was g\doing escorting her to the gates. This bug nin had been a thorn in his side the entire time; of course he would come to bother him just as he was about to take the woman for himself once and for all. He stood, poised to jump from the lands of Konoha before Tsunade approached Sakura daring to have tears in her hard, brown eyes.

"Sakura," the young girl just looked at her mentor for the out of character state she was in. "I feel like I'm losing a part of me, a part of my life." And consequentially, Tsunade was. Her daughter, her protege, her companion was going to Suna, past Lake Country, and out of her comfort zone. For the first time in a long string of being ruler, the Hokage was really beginning to regret everything that she was forced to force Sakura into. "Please forgive me for not standing up for you, but I know," she paused for a hiccup of guilt. "I know that you will make me, us proud."

"I will, Tsunade." She hugged both her and Shino, hanging on a little longer to the bug man than Gaara liked and walked towards the group of people waiting. Council members leered at Sakura, at the though of having the jewel of Konoha within their country and within their grasps.

And so began the long journey to Suna; sand in the sandals, long hot days, and endless lonliness awaited her.

Her sandals dug into the sand as they paused for a break; up ahead, Gaara stood off to the side, not resting at all, but she assumed that he was the least in need of a break even after such a long journey. Sakura examined his back from her crouching position on the hard grains; it was broad, something unlike the child Gaara that she knew and feared. But she could see the way his back moved, see tiny hairs on his neck, the way that even though he was mostly unfazed by the heat Gaara had a gentle flush of blood in his face. She knew she'd said it before, but these traits were just so... human.

'But still,' Sakura panted as her foot shifted in the sand. 'I can't get that face... his face out of my head. As he was sleeping, it was so soft and hominal that it's just stuck.' Truthfully, Sakura's cold barrier of denial was starting to melt, which began at first glance at Gaara that odd night.

Sakura couldn't get the image of Gaara asleep on her shoulder out of her head; it was a moment of vulnerability that he had been willing to show her, well, not so much willing as he had no choice. Which brought her to the next question in her mind. Why her? What about her was able to calm Shukaku down so?

Gaara rose, and for a second Sakura flinched as if he could read her mind, but he walked straight past her and in the direction of Suna: her new home for the next six months at least. Could she do it, bear Gaara for that long? The entire journey she watched his back, breathing through her nose and out her mouth almost in time with his steps. One of the council members had stared at her, even offering to carry her the entire way should she need it; Sakura shivered with disgust. At last, however, the peaks of Suna's sandy buildings rose over the far dune and they progressed toward the city with the relief of being home - or in Sakura's case, the unease of now being _home_.

"This is where you'll be staying, Miss Haruno," a maid or servant of some sort had greeted them as soon as Gaara and Sakura had arrived at the Kage building. Obviously this is where Gaara lived, but she couldn't be sure about Temari and the painted one, Kankuro. The Kage had disappeared as soon as he made sure she was in the maids' care—as if she would run! If she did, where the hell would she go?

The color palette of the room was mute at best, the knick knacks usually found in bedrooms were missing, and there were no personal touches whatsoever. If it wasn't for the fact that it had a plush bed centered on the far wall Sakura probably would have demanded another room for her six month stay. She lay down first, reveling in the way her figure sank into it. Now this was a bed—even better than her own. But the window eventually called her attention. The cushiony seat below it beckoned her to sit and look down at the many happenings down in the streets. The vast, sandy town was not what she had imagined. There were patches of grass and small gardens that she spied behind average-sized houses, though the patches of soil consisted more of vegetables than flowers. Sakura was amazed that anything was able to grow in those conditions, but she noticed that hardly any flowers at all were able to fair against the heat. Perhaps she would find some somewhere that might remind her of Konoha.

People strolled along the streets going about their daily lives not knowing of her presence there—or why it was required. A blonde blob caught here eye and for a moment she envisioned Naruto there or maybe another of her friends, but a strange face turned and she realized that her mind was already playing tricks on her after just one day. Sakura was alone here, and she'd just have to get used to that. She was no longer on her own soil.

The evening bared its ugly teeth sooner than she thought, and she sighed at that thought that this was the sunset of the last day she'd see Konoha for a long time.

A knock sounded at her door, Sakura rising to answer it, "Temari, what are you doing here?" The pinkette didn't remember becoming friends with the girl in Konoha, which mean that this was less than a social visit.

"I'm here to escort you to dinner." It may have been her imagination, but Temari seemed slightly less than amused at the thought of being reduced to such menial labor as to fetch Sakura.

"Really?"

The blonde just looked at Sakura as if to berate her for even asking the question. They stalked down the hallways in a reverse path from the one she'd taken with the maid earlier. You could cut the air. Sakura was not used to having to make stressed conversation with someone. "So..."

Temari turned her head, knowing that Sakura wanted to ask her something. "So what? Spit it out."

"Do you know how things are going to work?" Sakura finally decided to address the elephant in the room, and its name was Gaara.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean with the Gaara situation... he obviously brought me here to aid him in sleeping. Does that mean that he's going to be sleeping in my room or vice versa?" It was the blonde's turn to just look at Sakura incredulously.

"Haruno, that _is_ Gaara's room. You're staying in the Kage building; practically the only bedrooms here are Gaara's, Kankuro's, and mine. If he wanted anything else for you, you'd be staying in the Ambassador building."

Tsuyoku: Ugh, sorry sorry sorry this took soooooo damn long to write, revise, etc. I've been up to my eyeballs in school, work, and having a social life. But here it is, and it's long enough that I hope you won't kill me for taking this long. And I'm beginning ch 8 as we speak. ^.^ Thx, R&R


	8. Unrequited Love?

Tsuyoku: I know, I know. It's about damn time. Mrrgrr, it's taken too long, but here it is. And if it's any condolences it's a little bit longer than most of the others.

Plus…. I don't have internet at my new apartment yet which has delayed my uploading this chapter by a few days at least. And until we get it, it might delay my updating until I can access a computer that is connected with the internet (And still remember that I have something to upload.)

Hope you like, and please review!

–

Sound Sleep Ch8

Sakura's eyes opened, giving her a welcomed escape from the dream she'd been having. She didn't suppose that her dreams recently had any meaning except to remind her that she was in this forsaken wasteland where no one even bothered to pay her any attention. In the dream Gaara stood on the sand dune next to her staring toward Suna as she called out to him. Her questions and yells warranted no response from him, and it drove her nuts. Was this dream telling her that she had no say in her future no matter what she did or said to the Kazekage?

_What__'__s the point of that? I already know that I have no power here_… Sakura rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stared at the ceiling.

Her arms rose over the top of her head, stretching and popping anything she could for the satisfaction of feeling restful as she woke up. One month; she'd been there one month where she'd hardly seen Gaara for the entirely as she busied herself in the gardens or around the house mending anything and everything that Kankuro managed to break.

The pinkette had been very disappointed that the hospital kept refusing her offer to help. Did they never need the service? Or perhaps she was just unwelcome; outsiders rarely are. Was she being of any use in Suna?

She would have liked to think so. She'd like to think that Gaara's rest was making him a better diplomat, someone that the people of Suna could depend on for a great leader, but who knew if that was the truth? Sakura hadn't heard a harsh word about the Kazekage since she'd arrived. That, however, could be out of fear rather than out of admiration.

As she sat up from the bed, Sakura observed as much of the outside as she could from her position. The sun was shining full blast, and a good amount of people scattered along the roads. Her late mornings had become the result of staying up later and later every night in hopes that she might see Gaara come into the room, yet she never caught a glimpse of him as if Gaara stayed away just long enough for her to fall asleep before he entered. Sakura would be lying if she said that knowing someone was sleeping in her room at night (and never being able to see them) didn't leave a lingering chill in her spine when she woke up.

Sakura didn't know where he slept at night either.

When she got up, she imagined that he had taken to sitting on the desk across the room at night or lying on the floor at the foot of the bed. Thinking about him crawling into bed next to her was a thought she wasn't even going to entertain. But considering that she had found sand around the far side of the room on multiple occasions, she was pretty sure that he wasn't getting any closer than he had to. Sakura greatly appreciated this fact.

In the first two weeks of her stay, she didn't even think that he'd stayed with her since she never found any trace of his chakra left behind when she woke up. Nor was the silent man ever in the room unless he was sneaking in to sleep. Temari had mentioned in passing that she hadn't even seen her brother in the palace for some time, though that could have just been him avoiding people as per usual than anything else.

He seemed to be good at that sort of thing.

Temari and Sakura had been seeing each other a lot in the past month as well. They weren't best friends by any means, but the fact that Sakura was one of the few females the blonde ever came in contact with (let alone the only other one worth talking to that was allowed throughout the palace) was enough for Temari to abide Sakura's presence. They ended up spending most of their off time together whether it be training, eating, or dealing with Kankuro around.

The best thing of all about staying there was that Sakura could sleep as much as she wanted, and no one said anything because it was Gaara's suite. No one ever approached it to try and wake her or bring her food when she hadn't called. But the kunoichi didn't want to seem lazy or anything. There were days that she got up very early and trained in the gardens or worked out to keep her mind off Suna. She sometimes let it drift back home to thing things and people she was missing terribly. Especially Shino. He'd been her companion and (dare she think it) her protector for a while when she was hiding from Gaara in Konoha. And now that Gaara had her exactly where he wanted her, Shino had been powerless to help.

She threw her legs off the bed and felt the plush of the carpet beneath her toes. Once she had clothes on, breakfast was certainly in order and then she'd have to scour the streets of Suna for some kind of diversion for the day.

Upon setting foot into one of the dining rooms Sakura was greeted with a scroll address to her from Konoha.

_Who could this be, I wonder_? Sakura thought with a small smile tugging at her lips. She could only guess that it was from the very same dark man she'd been thinking of that morning. He said he would write her, but with the passing month Sakura had been worried that he'd forgotten his promise. She sat down at her place where food had already been laid out and broke the seal on the letter.

"Sakura, my lovely Sakura,

It's been a long month since you've been gone, but I'll bet you'd know that better than anyone. I apologize for it taking so long for me to write back, but things have been hectic around here without you. I constantly get asked whether I've heard from you, and most of my time has been spent on missions with one particular blond who has anger issues.

But don't let me make it out to sound like paradise. I noticed that even Tsunade hasn't been herself, and we all seem to understand that having to give up her apprentice to Suna of all places was a real shot to her ego as well as her heart. At least you're already through one month of your stay.

Please let me know if there's anything I can do. I'll make a trip there if you need me."

Shino ranted a little more in his letter. The boys were all on edge with her so far away in Suna. Tsunade seemed to need someone to fill Sakura's place so she could do some teaching. Even the bug man let on to how much he missed her. Sakura had only noticed about the time she was forced to leave Konoha that a special bond had formed between Shino and her. It was something stronger than friendship, something as powerful as love might be, but was that what it was? Sakura couldn't be sure. The pink-haired girl leaned back in her chair and contemplated if she was in love with the dark nin.

It certainly wouldn't be the first time that she had a crush on a peer. Sasuke was definitely a crush; was Shino the same, or had their time together pushed them past that stage yet?

It was a decision she wasn't ready to make. Her letters back and forth with Shino would be enough to get her through the six months, and then once she was back in Konoha they could evaluate their positions. Sakura finished her meal and quickly went back to her (read: Gaara's) suite to reply to Shino's long awaited letter.

Though his past few responses had been on the flirty side, Sakura hadn't expected Shino to make a move so suddenly. Just a week after they had begun sending messages back and forth, Shino had dropped a big, emotional bomb. The pinkette stared at the scroll as if it was in another language. There, on the third paragraph of his fourth letter to her, he had said something she hadn't expected to hear until her return.

"… I must admit that this time we've been apart I can't help but think about having had you here in my apartment for that short time. I can safely say that I would very much like to have you around here as much as possible once you return from Suna. We haven't been talking long, but hasn't our time spent together meant as much to you as it has me? I'd like to think so.

Am I allowed to love you? Are we, as ninjas who belong to Konoha, permitted to have feelings for each other? Even if the code says we aren't, I'm going to say it anyway."

And he had said it. Shino had finally asked her to voice her feelings about him. This was what she had been afraid of. To her shame, she'd resumed with flirting with him through their messages, and possibly he had taken something from them that he shouldn't have. And Sakura didn't really know how to respond. She looked out the window beside the desk and sighed into the night. She silently asked her reflection what should be done though no reply ever came.

It was late, however, and Shino shouldn't expect her to respond until the next day in either case. She pushed herself from the desk and settled into the bed. Despite her usual schedule of staying up late waiting for Gaara, Sakura didn't feel like it tonight. She felt the weight of a heavy decision push her into the bed and finally into sleep.

Gaara noticed that his captive had turned in for the night sooner than she had in a while. He had suspected that she was once again playing a game with him hoping that she could stay awake long enough to see him come in from a long day. But he wasn't ever going to give her that satisfaction. The Kazekage made his way into the room, noticing that she was already in a deep sleep before he got there. His eyes quickly adjusted to the thick dark, and he made his way to the desk where he'd been camping out the entire time.

Gaara briefly wondered what it would be like sleeping in a bed when he was around Sakura. There were nights when he would watch her slumber from his perch on the other side of the room and wonder what it would be like to feel her warmth next to him. There was something about skin to skin contact that drove other people wild (in fact Kankuro was always talking about something or other to do with flesh), but Gaara had yet to understand it until he brought Sakura to his domain. She would turn occasionally, but on a normal basis she was usually calmly resting on her side where he could study her length from afar.

This night, however, something was blocking him from lounging on the desk and finally going to sleep. He went to move it aside, passing it off as just another one of the pink-haired one's letters. But when it saw the word "love" buried in one of the paragraphs, he was intrigued. He picked up the letter, hopped up on the desk, and began to read it.

It wasn't as if he was a stranger to the word. It was tattooed into his forehead for goodness sake, but sometimes the meaning of the word was lost on him. He knew what it meant, but what "love" meant between two people was a complete mystery. And it seemed that the two people in this case were the woman sleeping not ten feet from him and her little knight-in-shining-armor back in Konoha.

Gaara couldn't figure out why he was feeling heated so suddenly. Human emotions were usually as humorous to him as they were fascinating, but he couldn't be experiencing them now, could he? The thought, however, of her talking to this man through messages and expressing their "love" and how much they missed each other made his stomach churn. He knew it was rage, but there was another emotion there he couldn't believe was surfacing. Gaara of the Sand, the Kazekage of Sun, was above being… jealous of a weaker nin, right?

He folded the paper in his hand and gripped it firmly as he allowed her magic to work over him. No matter how riled up he was when he decided to sleep, Gaara was always able to fall under her spell when he got near. Was he willing to lose her to this Shino ninja?

He just might have to take Kankuro's advice and finally "make a move" on her. If Sakura fell in love with him instead, he wouldn't have to pull more strings just to keep her in Suna. First he'd have to find out how she felt about this man before he could tear them apart. After all, how was he supposed to continue with his sleeping schedule when she left in five months? Certainly he couldn't go to Konoha and try the same "ambassador" routine again.

Yes, making her fall for him was the only way to keep Shukaku and himself happy.

And he was asleep.

Sakura Haruno woke up feeling very rested despite the evening before. Shino's letter had come as a great shock to her, but one night's full rest had her feeling ready to face the day… and to face writing a reply to her would-be pen pal regarding her own feelings. It wasn't too late in the morning, so she stretched and swung her feet off the side of the bed as usual to grab some breakfast. The hunched figure toward the other end of the room was the thing that stopped her.

"Um… Gaara?" He just sat there, unmoving. This was odd. Did he die in his sleep? Had her "power" over him been so strong that she put him into some sort of coma?

It was ironic that she would find him like this the morning after she went to bed early. The only night Sakura hadn't cared to wait up for him, she has to wake up and find him still there. And while sleep was enough to dull the stressed look he constantly had one his face, the sandman was still quite creepy to wake up to.

She sighed and went to walk past him to the bathroom to get ready. She figured she would give him plenty of time to wake up and leave while she was in the bathroom to avoid having some awkward encounter face to face, but a hand shot out and grabbed her shoulder causing her to stop in her tracks.

"What the hell is going on, Gaara?" Sakura shouted as she came face to face with her attacker. For a split second Sakura realized how comfortable she had gotten with the fact that Gaara needed her, but that thought enraged her even more. Why should she be the one who has to change just for his sake?

He didn't make a move for a few moments; instead the Kazekage just lifted his hand and let the letter unfold itself.

She gasped. "You read my message? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I want to know exactly what is going on between this guy and you." He had to know. If there was something going on between them, it was going to be even harder to get her to fall for him, but hopefully she wouldn't accept notions of love from such a low-level ninja, he thought. Surely she would have taste enough to go for someone stronger that would protect her. If she hadn't fallen for the shaded nin, it would certainly be easier to make her his.

"Explain to me how that's any of your business?"

"It's my business to know everything that's going on within this palace, and I won't have you two sending your love letters back and forth and making a mockery of my messengers. They have better things to do. While you're in Suna, you are to be a professional representative of Konoha. That doesn't include having a relationship."

Sakura couldn't figure out why he was getting so worked up about it. He had just said more words to her than he had in the month she'd been there combined, and suddenly he had a problem with her having a love life? She was having none of that.

"Oh, that's interesting. So, I'm here to be a professional representative? Really? Because I was under the impression that I was here to be your personal teddy bear that you couldn't sleep without. How dare you even say something like that? Just because you're stunted emotionally and couldn't hold a relationship even if it had handles doesn't mean the rest of us will suffer the same. I will have one when I want and however I want, no matter where I am. You, Gaara of the Sand, cannot stop me." She began to walk away from him, thankful that his hand wasn't on her shoulder anymore lest her grab her again.

"You never answered my question, woman."

"Like I said, I don't know what business you have in my love life, but you're not entitled to know every damn thing about me. You may be able to hoard me here for six months, but you don't control me." And she was gone. Gaara scrunched the letter up in his hand once more before giving it to the sand that crawled out of his gourd. The sand wrapped around it and pulled back into its hiding place.

"Son of a bitch, I can't believe he would even say that to me!" Sakura had ended up in the garden of all places. She was more pissed off than she had been upon finding out about being shipped to Suna in the first place. Taking her anger out on an unsuspecting herb next to her, the rosette plummeted to the ground on her knees and turned her rage and frustration into tears.

By the time she was done, Sakura had a massive headache and she was sure that her nose was the same color as her hair. "I don't get it," she whispered. "Why me? What the hell did I do to deserve being jerked around like this?"

"Are you talking to yourself again, Haruno?"

Sakura looked up to find Temari standing by the archway into the garden. She shifted her face away from the girl, but replied as to not look like she was hiding. "Yes, I am. Got a problem with it?"

"No," replied Temari. "You do it pretty often. Has this got something to do with _him_ pissing you off again?"

"How did you know?" Sakura couldn't hide the sarcasm. Of course it was his fault. Everything wrong with her life was his fault right now.

Temari ignored her tone. "Just a guess, I suppose." The blonde sat down next to her companion completely ready to listen to whatever ranting the girl had to do. After all, there wasn't anything that immediately required her attention. All boredom aside, Sakura wasn't that bad of a person to get to know, even if she was from Leaf.

"I… Well, before I was forced to come to Suna I had been staying with a friend named Shino," Sakura said. "I'll be the first to admit that it got very creepy staying in my room once I found Gaara sleeping by the window one night. Since I didn't want to continue living at home very much after that, Shino offered his place until I could do something about the situation."

"And are you two a couple now?"

Sakura blushed. "I don't really know. Not officially, I guess."

"But you slept in the same bed."

"Well, yes, but it's not like that. We never did anything."

Temari scoffed. That was certainly obvious from the blush that covered Sakura's face.

"We've been trading messages since I've been in Suna, and I don't know what to make of his last one. He said, in so many words, that he loves me…"

"And is that what you've been crying about?" Temari said, feeling stupid that she'd sat down to console this girl who was only having man problems.

"I don't know. The thing is, I'm not sure that I love him back. What does one reply to that when it's been said through a letter and not face to face? I hadn't intended to actually pursue a relationship until I returned from Suna. Now I'm not to sure about it. And it doesn't help that Gaara saw Shino's message and totally blew up at me this morning."

This was certainly a new development.

"When you said he "blew up at you" what do you mean?"

Sakura could barely stand to recount the story to Temari, who was completely engrossed over her brother acting so strange. What kind of motivation could Gaara have to be so… emotional?

"So he actually touched you? That's odd for Gaara. Well, more than odd. I've never seen him even come close to physical contact with another human in my life… well except when he was killing someone without his sand which is rare. I have absolutely no idea what brought that on. Unless…"

Sakura's ears perked up when Temari trailed off.

"Well, obviously he wants to keep you here. So cutting you off from everyone is the key to doing that."

"Obviously…" Sakura had already thought about that.

"So, what do you think will happen when you go home? What about Shino and you?"

Sakura supposed that if they got together as a couple (or if they were even allowed to be one) they'd be like any normal couple: eating together and sleeping back at his place once more. She got a rush from trying to imagine herself in an actual relationship going on dates and having someone to come home to.

"I'd no longer be a single, spinster of a woman doomed to spend my nights alone or out with all my couple friends."

Temari smiled. "Exactly. You'll be with Shino most of the time. Won't it be weird when Gaara starts coming to visit at night when you two are sleeping in the same bed?"

"Hell no! He's not going to even come close to trying to sleep around me when I get away from this cursed place!"

Temari gave no indication that she'd even heard Sakura's reply. "Or maybe he'll just talk to Tsunade and make sure that you stay in Suna permanently. That would be his best solution as to cut down travel time between our countries."

The rosette just gasped. "Temari, what are you talking about? Is there something that I'm not getting?"

"You realize that this six month thing isn't going to cut it, right? Gaara has finally tasted sleep, and I doubt that he's going to let you go—you're apparently able to tame Shukaku somehow. And that big fight and all those strings he had to pull to get you to Suna weren't for nothing, Haruno. You need to start thinking about what's going to happen in your future and what you still have control over."

For the first time since she'd arrived in Suna, Sakura was completely and utterly speechless. She didn't start crying or ranting about anything or begin pitying herself. Instead, Sakura just sat there and turned oxygen into carbon dioxide. She didn't move when Temari got up and left; she didn't move until it became so dark that even her thoughts were getting lost in the shadows.

Tsuyoku: Well, writing this chapter was a blast. I'll admit that I got it written in a few days in notebook paper and then finally (in pieces) typed it up! R&R guys, hope this one generates a few reviews!


	9. Absent Bedmate

Tsuyoku: Well, here's another chapter, and we are definitely going to end with a bang with this chapter! Hope you guys enjoy the ending; please, please, please let me know!

Gaara hadn't heard a peep from anyone since he'd returned to the palace late that afternoon. He'd contemplated finding the kunoichi and continuing their conversation from that morning, but something about the way his "sister" was glaring at him made Gaara curious. Finally, he returned her glare with one of his own. "What's the matter with you, woman?"

The blonde didn't seem to care whether or not he saw her open stares. Temari didn't know why she felt sorry for her female companion, but after she'd left the silent Sakura to brood over her future, seeing Gaara just left a scowl on her face. And obviously he'd become aware of the fact. "Absolutely nothing. Just that I had to sit and listen to Haruno this morning while she tried to sort out her life after Suna."

"There is no life after Suna for her."

"You've got to let her go when the time comes. You went without sleep for how many years before she came along; what you've had should to be enough to last you for a few more years."

The silent man had the urge to rub his forehead in frustration. Why had both of these women decided (on the exact same day no less) to stop being afraid of him? For years, he co-existed with the two of his siblings quite nicely when they had been hesitant to say even a few words to him. But now when there was a loose-mouthed woman running about his halls and disrespecting him, Temari had obviously gotten the same idea.

"And why should I do without it when I have her around?"

"She has a life in Konoha. She has someone there waiting for her to return so they can have a normal life together. What kind of life do you expect her to have just walking around the palace by day and providing you with sleep by night?"

The look on Gaara's face said that he didn't care. "She should be grateful that I let her have as much freedom as she does. But if she keeps disrespecting me like you are now, then I will soon put her in her place. I'm going to keep her here, and no one is going to take her away. I need this." Gaara hadn't intended to explain himself, but he'd gone ahead and let Temari know that there was no escape for the young girl. He turned on his heel and went straight to his office to do some kind of work that he knew was waiting for him.

Gaara's words really bothered Temari for some reason. She supposed it had something to do with the fact that, for as long as she could remember, Gaara had ruled over both his siblings with fear. And that was had been how he'd obtained everything he wanted in life. That and the fact that he'd become not only a strong ninja but a great politician as well.

Should she tell Sakura what he said? Nah, the blonde figured that she'd reasonably scared the girl enough with the prospect of Gaara controlling her life forever. Hearing those words straight from Gaara's mouth would be devastating enough for the girl. Plus, she figured that Sakura would find out soon enough when she decided to start fighting back.

"What the hell's up with you?" Kankuro had come into the commons area just moments before, and Temari had done nothing to hide her brooding façade.

"Just this situation with Haruno. I can't help but feel sorry for the girl."

Kankuro looked as if she shouldn't be worried at all.

"What? I mean, we can't really sympathize with her exact situation, but what would you do if your only job in life was to sit there while someone took advantage of you?"

"Well, it depends on how exactly they were taking advantage of me, but whatever. If Gaara has his way, eventually that young girl isn't going to mind staying in Suna."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"..."

"C'mon, Kankuro, you obviously know something. Have I ever left you hanging?"

"Walk with me," he said. They started down the hall heading nowhere in particular as Kankuro explained what he'd done. "So I mentioned to Gaara that some women can be easily swayed with even the slightest bit of attention."

"Oh, you really think—"

"Now don't go judging before you hear me out completely. I said _some_ women. I don't really think that Sakura is that type of girl, but it did put an idea into Gaara's head."

"Kankuro! You're not telling Gaara to… try something, are you?" Temari asked.

"I told him absolutely nothing like that. Just happened to mention it, that's all. But you have to admit, it is a good fix for both our situations, if only temporarily."

"You want her to fall in love with him."

Kankuro sighed and said, "Yes, but if that happened, don't you suppose that on the off chance she did, he might eventually fall for her in return?"

It was something she hadn't thought of. The blonde just walked silently for a moment and rolled it around in her head. Would falling for someone be enough to lighten Gaara up? She briefly thought about what it would be like to no longer be afraid of her brother.

"Sounds promising, doesn't it? A Gaara in love might not be so intimidating. But what are we talking about. It would be hard enough to have her fall for him, let alone the other way around. We should just forget about the idea entirely." Kankuro smiled when she took the bait.

"No!" Temari yelled.

Kankuro stopped walked and turned toward her in pseudo-surprise.

"I mean…" She lowered her voice. "You may be onto something here, dear brother."

Sakura had marched through her suite and grabbed a few things she'd need during the night and was now standing outside Temari's room poised to knock on the door.

The blonde obviously hadn't been expecting her at the door, and her gaze darkened slightly at the sight of a blanket and pillow under the kunoichi's arm. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm staying with you tonight," Sakura answered, unfazed by her companion's slightly apprehensive tone. "I really don't want to help him sleep right now."

"Yeah, but I don't think that's a good idea, Haruno. You realize that it's not a good idea to stand in Gaara's way when it's something he wants."

"I don't care," said Sakura. "I'll deal with it tomorrow. And don't you worry either; I'm not going to let him know that I stayed here. I'll make sure to take all the repercussions."

Temari sighed. This really didn't seem like a good idea, but if the girl was willing to face Gaara then who was she to stop it? It wouldn't really help the plan to make them fall for each other, but Temari figured that they had five months left, what was one more night of fear and loathing in Suna?

"Fine," she said and walked towards her bed leaving the door open in invitation. "But I'd better not be woken up in the middle of the night when he starts to rampage the palace looking for you."

Sakura mentally gulped. But it was late, and she distracted her mind from Temari's comment by setting up a little cot on the floor and settling in. When the blonde turned the lights off Sakura was asleep in no time. The lack of Gaara in the room plus Temari's presence was enough to calm her better than she had felt since being in Konoha.

Gaara, however, was not calm. In his suite across the palace he sat on the desk unable to sleep and unable to control his steadily growing anger. Where the hell was she?

Kankuro had been right about seducing women to keep them around; otherwise the kunoichi was going to keep doing things like this, and the Kazekage wasn't about to be undermined in his own country.

Sakura's morning was the same as it usually was. She woke up to the morning light shining through the window, she stretched, and she reveled in the relaxing night of sleep she had. But of course the fact that Gaara hadn't been there all night made the sunshine brighter and her muscles that much more relaxed.

The moment she approached her room, though, the muscles in her arms and chest immediately tightened once more. It was early morning and there was a person in the room, namely one particular person whom she was hoping to avoid completely.

She walked through the door and started putting things away without saying a word to her captor. He didn't say anything either. Of course, Sakura wasn't sure what was worse: him not speaking and sitting there tracing her every move or if he started berating her for making him stay up the entire night.

_I'll bet he was able to handle it_, Sakura thought. But his constant glare on her back was increasingly uncomfortable and borderline intimidating.

"You weren't brought here to disobey me. Nor were you brought here so you could spend your time with other people while wasting mine."

"Oh yeah? Well, I was brought here under the pretenses that I'd be working and actually doing some good. Tsunade thinks that I'm helping out at the hospital and teaching people about Konoha since you had to sign an alliance with us just to get me here in the first place. But I have done nothing since I've been here. There only so much training that I can do in the palace; I'm going insane!"

"Well, you're here because I'm going insane." Gaara stood fervently from his usual perch on the desk. "I didn't intend to sneak into your apartment that first night, but I did because I wasn't supposed to be in Konoha. And if you'd gone without sleep for as long as I have, you'd be crazy enough to do anything for an opportunity to experience that. No matter who you have to step on."

"So you're okay with wrecking my life just to set yours normal? Forgive me if I don't feel like I'm getting a good deal." Sakura started walked around the bed intending to leave, but Gaara once again grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

He turned her to face him, finally taking Kankuro's advice and kissing her full on the mouth. Long ago he had experienced the intimacies of a woman: someone he didn't know, someone who only gave and never took, and he had repelled all human contact since then, disgusted at the thought of it happening again. There was no emotion whatsoever. Gaara couldn't understand why people had to urge to touch each other all the time.

Maybe it was because he didn't feel connected to another human…

The redhead leaned into her with his body and tried to remember what it was like the last time he felt someone's lips against his. He'd like to say that this one was different—it was in the sense that he knew this woman and her habits rather than it being a stranger. But once again, there was no emotion behind it on either part.

In fact, Sakura began to struggle with him soon enough to which he replied with a struggle of his own: grabbing her wrists and finally tumbling them on top of the large bed so that he could have the upper hand.

Gaara continued with his actions hoping to make her finally give in and begin to love him. Would this be enough or would more be demanded of him?

Sakura stilled underneath him, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do. She was completely against the idea of a man suddenly forcing himself on a woman (especially one like Gaara who had recently pissed her off so much,) but there was something about a man being so dominant (and hopefully not intending to hurt her) that stirred something in her lower body that she hadn't felt for a while.

The young kunoichi lay there letting her assailant move from her puffed lips to her neck in a fashion that she had never expected from Gaara. She let herself go for a few minutes as she enjoyed the pleasure of another person's lips on her body. Even Shino had never gone so far as to give her such wonton feelings.

"No!" Sakura yelled. At the thought of Shino, she shoved Gaara as forcefully as she could without pumping chakra into her arms. Why did she allow him to get to far when she had Shino at home? Was she really ready to betray all that he'd done for her just to have a little fun? "I can't. What… What do you think you were going?"

Gaara didn't say anything; he just stood where she'd pushed him and hid a smile behind a stoic face. He'd gotten to her; that he knew. She wouldn't be able to deny it at all. The sand nin had witnessed the lambent expression on her face as he moved down to her neck and collarbone.

"Answer me!"

"Because I want you." Gaara said the first thing he could think of that would appeal to her and seduce her even more. And it wasn't a lie because Gaara did want Sakura—only for sleep. But she didn't need to know the specifics.

"You want…? How is that possible? I can't do that with you; I have an obligation to Shino."

"So, you're saying that if you weren't so intimate with that man, you would?"

"No, I never said that," Sakura said. She was flustered and very sure that her face was once again blending in with her hair. "You're taking the words out of my mouth and twisting them around, Gaara."

"But you wanted it. Even for those few moments." Sakura couldn't understand how he could say such things with a straight face and a smoldering look in his eyes, but he managed to do so. Gaara, however, wasn't able to figure out why he couldn't get rid of the erection that had formed between his legs. He realized that it was a natural reaction to having been so personal with the woman before him, but the desire didn't seem to fade as quickly as it had the previous times.

Sakura just turned toward the door with all intent to leave before Gaara's voice stalled her one last time.

"If you don't come back to this room tonight I'm coming to look for you."

And that night, Sakura did come back to the room. She pulled out her most ratty t-shirt and most unattractive sleep shorts she could find. Just in case Gaara decided to try kissing her again—maybe he'd be deterred by her appearance (even though the thought of him on top of her made her just a little bit warmer inside.) Her lower stomach clenched, her nipples hardened, and she hated every minute of it. Sakura tried to shake the feeling from her mind and body knowing that it was sick and wrong to be attracted to someone like him.

Even thought the lights were out, the rosette young nin still had trouble sleeping, and before long Gaara walked into the room for the night.

"Still awake, woman?" He had to admit that he hadn't expected her to be up when he arrived. The lights were out, and he assumed that she would at least pretend to be asleep so she wouldn't have to interact with him. Was it weird that he was pleased she wasn't?

Sakura, however, had no wish to reply to anything he said to her. She was wishing that she'd feigned unconsciousness.

"Has your silence got something to do with what happened between us this morning?" Gaara felt some predatory domination that he hadn't experienced before this close encounter with the pinkette. Ever since he'd felt himself press against her this morning, he hadn't experienced such a strong urge to dominate her and keep her there with him. There was something about himself (or possibly the demon Shukaku) that had the urge to just take her body to see what it would be like with her.

Once again, Sakura wasn't speaking to him. She would probably try to run away if she knew exactly what Gaara was thinking about at that point.

"Fine, don't reply, Kunoichi. I can think of a far better way to use those lips."

She just lay there and watched as he crawled up the bed and placed his arms on either side of her, ugly pajamas or no, nad descended toward her. Sakura's eyes widened as he reached the edge of the bed where his body slowly laid upon hers with the plush blanket sandwiched between them.

Tsuyoku: Yay! The story's actually moving along pretty well. And Gaara and Sakura are certainly starting to have more interaction that just being in the same room to sleep, eh? More to come! R&R!


	10. It's Working

TYK: I'm so glad to have uploaded another chapter. With all the things going on in life, I have definitely put this on the back-burner (understatement!) But, yeah, getting it going again.

Ooh, btw, CallMeSweetie, first reviewer of the chapter, yep... grabbed my head and LOLed at your review.

...I had the exact same thought. Unfortunately, we may have to wait just a little while longer for that to happen...

Sound Sleep Chapter 10

"Gaara, once again, what the hell are you doing?" Sakura would have forced him off like she had previously, but it seemed like a better idea to find out exactly where he was going with this situation. She found it so hard to believe that he was actually going to... do _that_ to her... Would he eventually chicken out and stare at her blankly wondering what came next? The rosette was curious enough to find out just how far he was willing if only know what to expect the next time he tackled her. It might be an interesting story to laugh at later.

Gaara's thoughts didn't lay anywhere near Sakura's mouth, let alone her face. No, what he was interested in was somewhere buried underneath these...

"Haruno, what are you wearing?"

If there was anything short of a bucket of cold water that would have shocked her back into this sexually charged reality, it was that. As the Kazekage pulled back the fluffy comforter to reveal ratty, holed pajamas, Sakura struggled to at least keep some of herself covered. As cocky as she had become in the last few minutes concerning Gaara and how far he would go with her body, she had completely forgotten that she'd neglected to "dress to impress."

The kunoichi mentally kicked herself as Gaara was suddenly more interested in what she was wearing that what was under it. Her face reddened, and without actually thinking about it she reached out to cup his preoccupied face and turned it up to meet her eyes. She had to regain control of the situation. What was that earlier about making him feel something for her? To make him let her go when the time came? That wasn't going to happen if she lost his interest because of a couple stains and tears, and she would be loathe to have failed her personal mission.

"You didn't really crawl over here just to see what's I'm wearing, now did you?"

The sand nin was actually, truly surprised for a moment. _Has it worked already_? Could she actually have already fallen for his affections? He hadn't done anything yet! This couldn't be it; he wanted more.

And that last thought surprised him even further.

Kankuro had told him to kiss her, touch her, and to make her feel so amazing as if there wasn't any other man in the world that might make her feel that way other than him.

"_You might not even have to go that far, but no matter what, no less that that will reach a woman's heart... In my humble opinion, if I do say so myself._" The painted man had then chosen to go into great detail about his many experiences with women that were absolutely not on the same level as the kunoichi beneath him. That was about the time that Gaara stopped paying attention to his brother and walked away.

Just as Gaara was just about to dip back into his exploration of her warmth and her scent, a noise from outside the room suddenly commanded Sakura and Gaara to attention. Their little tryst forgotten, Gaara leaped from the bed and across the room in one fluid motion with sand from behind him flowed smoothly from the gourd that he'd picked up. It hadn't been a loud noise—quite the opposite actually—but he'd noticed it, and now Gaara stood at the door and finally, slowly opened it. There was a lingered scent he couldn't place, the warmth of the hall suggested a presence that was strong.

He hadn't detected the person until it was so close to the room. And now there was no one there. Like they'd disappeared from thin air. He had to know.

The Kazekage slung the gourd onto his back and shot out of the room without a word to Sakura. She knew as well as he that there was a presence outside the room that didn't seem to be anyone that belonged there. She didn't predict that Kankuro or Temari would be creeping around this late at night, nor had she ever seen any kind of palace employee this far into the living areas without someone calling for them.

Sakura bolted from the bed and into the hallway intended on following Gaara in his quest for whoever was creeping around. But she stopped short when she noticed it.

Mud.

A tiny speck. Something you wouldn't even notice unless you were a ninja that was trained to pick up these things. Sakura knelt on the floor enjoying the cold surface against her knees and fingered the speck of brown. She rubbed it, smelled it, felt the moisture. There wasn't much mud in Suna, although it was plausible that this was from the village in Sand.

But what the pinkette noticed above everything else was that this was Konoha mud. There was something familiar about it that took her back to the days when she was first starting out as a ninja. Sakura remembered having her face planted in this very mud so many times, and so much of it had seeped into her wounds that she could taste the dirty, metallic flavor. There was no mistaking it.

Someone from Konoha had been outside the door, perhaps trying to spy on what Gaara and she had been... doing. The thought was enough to chill the kunoichi to the bone.

_What if someone from Konoha knows about what Gaara was trying to do to me just now? What if it gets around? What if Shino hears_?

_What if it had been Shino_?

Sakura stood up and ran into the room toward the desk. The letter that Shino wrote, she'd realized earlier, was gone—Gaara's doing no doubt. She'd yet to reply to the letter having been shocked at first and quite distracted later.

Twenty minutes later, Sakura finished folding the letter to Shino and sealed it with her personal mark. The first three drafts of this difficult letter lay crumpled into little balls across the room where she'd launched them previously. But this one—while it still wasn't the best way she'd wanted to put it—was the best thing she could come up with in the mild panic that had come over her before.

Not willing to take the chance of Gaara finding these "rough drafts" and confronting her in the same manner as he had that day, Sakura put them in a pile on the windowsill and used a simple fire jutsu (she wasn't as proficient as Sasuke in those aspects) to set them ablaze into a pile of ash. The breeze of the night did the rest of the work to cover up her tracks.

She changed into her clothes and headed down to the common area all the while keeping an eye and an ear out for her captor. Unfortunately, Sakura was able to think about how the hands of such a dangerous man felt on her skin which then tingled at the very thought. It was as if bugs were crawling under her skin.

And of course with the thought of bugs her mind went straight to Shino.

"_But will you be enough for him?" she asked the letter in her hand._

"Is there something you need, Miss?"

Sakura approached the desk where a young girl sat working on a few random papers. The kunoichi took her slight frown as an inquiry of what the pinkette was doing downstairs at this hour.

"I need this sent off to Konoha as soon as possible. It's urgent."

The young girl's pale hand accepted the letter and looked its address over with her deep blue eyes. "Yes, Miss. I'll call up one of our messengers to deliver it as soon as possible." She lay it on the desk on top of the papers she'd been writing on. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, thank you." And Sakura turned around to head back to the room. She was timid to go back on the chance that Gaara might be in the mood to continue what he'd been doing when he'd left.

But Gaara was not in a good mood.

He had scoured the East side of Suna where he'd sensed the presence flee to—but to no avail. In the end he hadn't been able to catch up to the little eavesdropper, and that was enough to make him forget his mood when he had been "exploring" the kunoichi that was underneath him.

Even the thought of continuing his attentions—or even the fact that she _should_ be there waiting for him when he got back—wasn't enough to get him back to the room any quicker.

Though he couldn't say it wasn't tempting. If doing things like that was going to keep her in Suna, this should be easy. Of course, he would have detected the person quicker had his senses not been otherwise occupied. That was the problem. In his quest to make her fall in love with him, he was loosing sight of the real mission and loosing sight of his sanity. She was changing him. Gaara couldn't be certain, be he figured that it probably wasn't for the better. He was afraid that it would make him soft, weak, much like those people he surrounded himself with on a daily basis. What set him off was the ability to look past all the human emotions and simply exist for his work and his country.

And now he couldn't even do that. The sleep was wonderful and refreshing, but the damn situation came with a price. Even if it didn't last, however, the price was something he'd pay to play around with the kunoichi some more. For all the annoyances she'd put him through, it was worth it to return the favor.

With that in mind, he almost flew to the threshold of the administration building but slowed to a walk when passing the state receptionist, Taki. It was her turn to take the third shift of the desk that night.

He stood tall and approached the desk when she made a motion to him.

"My lord, Ms. Haruno dropped this off about an hour ago." She put the sealed letter in front of him. "She said that it was urgent and that it must be delivered tonight."

"Thank you," Gaara said as he tucked the letter into his robes and started toward his rooms for some much deserved sleep.

Although he was curious about what the letter said, Gaara figured it was best he rested and woke up refreshed before investigating this letter. It was bound to upset him either way. When he'd read that letter from the bug manipulator, Gaara had ordered Taki and the other staff that any message the rosette wanted to send to Leaf was to go through him first.

Kankuro had overheard the order and commented that, while it wasn't exactly the best way to her heart, it was the right way to keep others from getting to her heart before Gaara was able.

When he opened the door to his bedroom, the dim light behind him flooded over the bed where a pink tuft of hair protruded from underneath the comforter.

He looked out the window as he removed the gourd from his back. It was close to dawn, thought you wouldn't think so from looking at the sky. Not one to look at the time often, Gaara could smell the approaching day in the crisp air from the... now open window.

Gaara pondered for a moment why the window was wide open in his room, but paused when he sat on the very end of the bed. The Kazekage could already feel the power of Sakura Haruno calming the demon—and essentially the rage—within him. But this time, with the plush surface underneath him, Gaara found the desk to be more uninviting than usual.

And with the sensation of touching her slowly creeping back into his hands, the redhead crawled up further into the bed and lay next to her. Of course, he kept a solid distance, but was close enough to smell her hair and relive their tryst in his dreams.

So you can imagine Sakura's reaction when her eyes opened and the calm face of the Kazekage greeted her.

_What the hell_? Sakura kept her scream inside. She knew about her power to sooth Shukaku, but if something were to startle Gaara (and the demon) awake, she wasn't so sure that the sand across the room wouldn't jump out and put her in its grainy coffin.

But what the hell was she supposed to do until he woke up?

Very carefully, the pink headed girl rose from laying down watching his laconic face for any twitch of movement. But it never came. Sakura was undoubtedly shocked, especially when she sat upright and shook the bed.

_Is he dead? He can't be! What the hell is going on here_?

"Gaara..." She started to reach out for him, but once again she hesitated which the thought of sand crushing her to death. Finally, Sakura's hand touched the soft, unspoiled skin of his cheeks. She was amazed at the smooth feel of his skin—but realized that it had been protected by sand all his life. He had never had a reason to toughen up.

And when she absentmindedly pushed on his cheek, he took a big breath and sighed before rolling onto his back and snoring slightly.

"Seriously? He is asleep!" Finally comforted with the fact that a heart attacked hadn't suddenly killed him in his sleep and thus far his sand had remained in the gourd, Sakura leaped out of the bed and stood near that door.

Once she was out of range, Gaara started to feel a tug in his lungs and his chest. The sleep that seemed so easy to grasp just hours before was pulled from his grasp, and he opened his eyes to the new sunlight shining through the still open window.

Sakura stared from the other side of the room unable to move now that Gaara had woken up from whatever kind of sleep he was just under.

"_Are you... okay?"_

Without even missing a beat Gaara said, "what's that supposed to mean, Woman?"

"Well, to put it bluntly Gaara, you were sleeping like a man!"

The Kazekage could only raise an eyebrow.

Sakura almost sweat dropped. "That didn't quite come out how I thought it was going to. What I mean to say was that you were asleep. In a deep sleep. Like a log. I touched you, and you didn't even wake up. You just rolled over like nothing happened."

The stoic Gaara made no move but to raise his hand to his right cheek where there was still a tingling sensation. This relationship between Shukaku and this woman was starting to get a little out of hand. To lose his senses and drop his guard like that was unthinkable.

"_You should be dead right now," _Gaara said absentmindedly.

He didn't notice the appalled reaction on the rosettes face; instead the Kazekage drug his eyes from the bed to the desk and back.

Could the distance from this woman be a factor? He remembered the tug he felt as (he assumed) she crossed the room. But Gaara wasn't prepared to think about this in his current position on the bed.

Sakura moved just in time for her (whatever Gaara was to her—captor maybe?) to pass by and move down the hall until he was out of sight. For a moment, she contemplated crawling back into the big warm spot where they're been in the bed. Covering her head trying to forget the fact that she'd woken up almost nose to nose with Gaara of the Sand sounded like a good idea, but she didn't figure sleep would take over. She'd probably just end up thinking about what just happened.

Perhaps Temari could offer some kind of distraction to last the day until darkness set in and the Suna ruler descended on her once again.

Meanwhile, tucked away in his office, Gaara was quite occupied with the situation he was in. On one hand he had this girl who had the power to give him glorious sleep that until now had escaped him. On the other hand, however, was an entirely different situation altogether. It was a new world in itself where he was not in control anymore. Not only had he discovered a new liking for contact with a certain female ninja, but he had let down his guard that night before and slept deeper than he ever had before.

If he wasn't so stressed out with the situation, Gaara figured he'd be feeling pretty good at that moment.

But the fact aside, he would have to think about how far was too far when it came to Haruno. Obviously the distance between them affected the depth of the sleep he had—which as was demonstrated that morning could be both good and bad.

He fingered the message she's written the night before—he was surprised (and pleased) that it had remained in his placket all night and that she hadn't discovered it.

Finally, he removed it from its warm hiding place and studied the seal on the back and the distinctive handwriting on the front. It was addressed to Shino, that ninja she stayed with in Konoha.

That man had been a thorn in his side the entire time—getting in the way when she was living with him, fighting for her to stay in Leaf when Gaara threatened to take her away, and now trying to interrupt from afar.

Gaara leaned back in the chair. He could go over Shino's head and talk to the Hokage. It would be easy to flourish a political reason for her to have little to no contact with Shino (or anyone for that matter) on the grounds that it was disrupting her work there. But he decided that he wasn't going to be that person. If Shino wanted a fight, then he was going to get one.

And with that thought, Gaara flicked his thumb on the seal of the letter and opened it before any other thoughts came to mind.

"…_I don't know just how to reply to your last message. I'm not going to return the sentiment if I don't feel it fully, and right now I can't judge my feelings. Not in this place. _

_The Kazekage is ultimately confusing me with the way he interacts with me. I was sent here on the pretense that I would actually be doing some good for Suna, but I'm just someone for Gaara to use. Should I tell Tsunade about this? Would she understand that this contract with Konoha is just a lie?_

_My main concern lies with what Gaara's been thinking or doing lately... I can't even describe everything—one, because it would take many pages to explain it, and two because I can't figure out what his intentions are. _

_But I don't want to trouble you with this right now. I just needed to get a reply out while I could. For now, I'm alright. And I will eagerly await your reply. Tell me what I should do?_

_Sakura"_

Gaara didn't know whether to be ticked off or amused.

If anything was proven from this letter it was the fact that he was getting inside her head. Everything that he'd been doing was in the front of her mind. And that proved that Kankuro's (and his own) plan was working.

Quite well, he might add.

Tsuyoku: I know that this chapter is a little shorter than a lot of them, but I was kinda anxious to get it out so close to posting the previous one. Especially when I've gotten a lot of reviews and people adding me or the story to their alerts. Thank you everyone! And, as you all well know, reviewing usually helps me get out another chapter just that much faster. R&R!


	11. A Backfired Plan

Tsuyoku: Hey guys! Nice to have this chapter up and going. I must admit that I have been slaving away to write this for you with pen and paper in the middle of my classes. Lectures just aren't enough to command my attention these days!

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Sound Sleep Chapter 11

"What the hell did you think you were doing? Tsunade yelled. "Going out to Suna—leaving Konoha without permission? What did you thing that was going to accomplish?"

The man was about to reply, but was cut off once more.

"And what if you screwed up and left some trace of yourself?"

He sighed, "Sakura—"

"Sakura Haruno is the reason for our alliance with Suna which is hanging by a thread even without your attempt to sabotage it!"

"Listen, you old bag, I just needed to check on her. Sakura's letters to Konoha have gotten few and far in-between. I know I'm not the only one who misses her—you've been concerned, and I can see it."

The blonde just sat behind her desk. She knew her aura was definitely fuming—enough to frighten the man in front of her. Tsunade felt her nerves calming with every sip of sake and every moment of quiet thinking. "And what did you see while you were there?" All anger aside, if he was able to tell her if Sakura was representing her country well, then it wouldn't have been a completely worthless trip.

"Um, not much. I had found Sakura's bedroom, but then…"

"My stomach growled." As if on cue, a fairly loud roar erupted from the ninja's stomach.

"Uzumaki!"

"Sorry, you old hag! That trip to Suna had burned off my lunch."

"Please," she started to say whole rubbing her temples, "tell me that you didn't get caught because of that."

The orange man scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I was so startled that I high-tailed it out of there." Thankfully, Tsunade noticed his expression turn a little more serious as he continued. "I believe that someone noticed me. As I was leaving, I felt a presence behind me, but I left the area before I could be followed. Of that, I'm certain."

Slightly relieved, Tsunade still felt a bit tense about the whole situation.

"You may go, Naruto. But I'm restricting you to Konoha and suspending you from missions until further notice."

"What? You can't to that!" His voice turned to whining once more.

"You're dismissed, Uzumaki," Tsunade said, not willing to put up with it.

She turned around at her desk and stared toward the window, tired of putting up with bad news for the day.

However, when Naruto failed to leave the room, Tsunade tensed once more.

"I thought you should know that when I tracked Sakura down, the room she was in was the one Gaara uses."

Tsunade slowly turned to look at him. "Gaara uses a room?" Whatever happened to not sleeping? Why would that man need a room?

"Yes. Unless I am wrong, Sakura is sleeping in Gaara's room. And he was in there with her—I sensed it."

"Why didn't you mention this before?"

"I was getting to it, but you were too busy yelling at me and taking my missions away!" He looked at her almost hopefully for a moment.

"For now, you're still suspended, but we'll think about it later."

Naruto tried to insight more conversations from the blonde, but she tuned him out. It was about time to "check up" on Sakura, the Konoha Ambassador, and see what she'd been doing for Leaf while she was there.

"Sakura…" she wrote on a parchment.

The only sounds left in the room were the ink flowing onto the paper. At least Naruto had taken the hint.

Gaara had thought to keep all Sakura's outgoing mail filtered through him, but Sakura had received Tsunade's letter in a matter of hours. The pinkette lay on the soft ground in the garden area opening the message. For a moment when the letter had first been delivered to Gaara's suite, she'd felt a little pressure on her chest thinking it was from Shino. Turning it around to find the Hokage's seal had put that pain to rest, but Sakura couldn't help but wonder when the bug man would reply to her. At the risk of Gaara coming in, Sakura retreated to the garden area. He rarely bothered her there.

She read Tsunade's message. It was business-like, but the kunoichi could sense a sort of urgency in the way that it was worded—especially in the way she asked how Sakura was doing.

The young girl flipped onto her back with her arms to her side and felt the grass graze her elbows in a tickling sensation. While starting at the overcast sky, Sakura couldn't help but ponder: how exactly was she?

Before Sakura could answer her own question concerning herself, a feminine voice called out.

"Haruno!"

Sakura turned sat up to greet Temari, who was approaching her with another girl Sakura thought she might recognize. "Hey Temari!"

"You've met Taki by now, I'm sure," Temari said. "She works the front desk sometimes. But today I've asked her to spar with us."

Sakura's first impression was that this girl was very blue. Her hair was a dark brown, and the bright sky blue of her clothes matched that of her eyes. The tunic she wore over a standard black ninja garb was a large cry from what she'd been wearing the night before.

She actually looked like a ninja.

"I don't believe we've been formally introduced, Miss Haruno."

"Sakura, please. Being called Miss Haruno makes me remember being back in school." Her attention shifted to Temari, "so she's sparing with us today?"

"Believe it or not, Sakura, Taki is one of Suna's ninjas," Temari said. "She's one of the only girls, let alone ninjas, in Suna that can hold my attention in both conversations and battle. When there's a lull in missions, Taki picks up her former position of managing the front desk of the Admin building. Gaara seems to trust her with the inner workings."

For just a moment, Sakura felt just a little jealous. Gaara trusted this woman—even if it was with a simple job. The pinkette had comforted herself with the fact that Gaara never opened himself to trust any woman. It had been the reason she tolerated his comings and goings this whole time without trying to make any emotional contact on his part.

But now that she knew he might have the means to trust (and maybe one day respect) her, it was time she got under his skin. Then Gaara might actually give her a little bit of space—not likely—but if he was capable of caring—and if Sakura could make him care about her—then there was a slight chance he might take pity on her and let her go home.

Might work.

Since she really wasn't doing anything else with her time, Sakura might as well give it a try.

"Sakura?"

The rosette blushed; she hadn't been paying attention. And by the tone in Temari's question, Sakura knew she'd missed something upon tuning them out.

"I said that we're going to go first, if that's alright with you. I haven't fought Taki in a while. At least I might have a chance at beating her if she's rusty from sitting at a desk this whole time."

The brunette smirked and just walked a few paces away to take a fighting stance across from Temari.

Meanwhile, for the first time in weeks, the Kazekage was able to do a full day's work without thinking about the kunoichi or being tired. He figured it was because of the deep sleep he'd had the previous night—at that was all, of course.

And, naturally, upon realizing that fact, his mind strayed to the girl, and he turned to the window overlooking the garden area.

That was her usual hideout during the day, today being no exception, he assumed because the weather was tolerable and the greenery that thrived there probably reminded her of Leaf.

His sister and Taki were fighting their usual battle where it was a 50/50 change of either winning. It was amazing that Taki had proved herself a worthy ninja and therefore elevated herself from being only a desk jockey full time. She could give Temari a run for her money any day of the week.

The pink-haired girl, however, sat off to the side eyeing the fight, but he noticed that she didn't seem to be paying much attention. Rather, she was giving the illusion of being interested while her mind obviously wandered elsewhere. This, he could easily tell.

Not that he was in the habit of watching her.

Bits of sun managed to break through the trees and buildings highlighting her hair and skin as she sat cross legged and leaned back on her palms.

For a moment, Gaara was unable to break his placid stare. As excited as he was about getting sleep (even thought admitting it was out of the question) Gaara lamented not being able to experience their close proximity the night before.

_The more I learn to tolerate her presence, the more curious I am about it_.

It was an interesting thought.

He still hadn't gotten to the bottom of how she was the only one Shukaku could tolerate, which was exactly why Gaara himself was completely and utterly obsessed with the idea. He knew what greed could do to someone, but what would happen if he pursued her further than he had the night before?

What state of mind would this woman put him in if he attempted more? If only sleeping next to her was able to give him the best sleep he'd had in… probably his whole life, Gaara wondered what might become of him if he actually went to the next step in their screwed up relationship.

Sakura, oblivious to Gaara, fingered Tsunade's note hidden in her hand, which itched to write a reply to her mentor. Clouds passed frequently over the sun which could no longer warm her skin with its rays. A slight breeze picked up and chilled her skin, and Sakura no longer felt as comfortable as she had before. Tsunade was apparently worried about her, and what did she not have to worry about?

For one thing, she'd shipped off one of her favorite students to Suna, into the arms of the Kazekage, with no real reason as to why he was suddenly interested in having her. But she wasn't able to argue with Tsunade. What other choice did the Hokage have but to submit to the overruling vote of the council?

And then there were the other nins she'd left behind in Konoha that were anxious, no doubt, about her stay in Suna. And it wasn't only Shino, but Naruto and Lee, possibly even Ino in a small way.

The pinkette suddenly experienced a sickness in her stomach. She was unable to stay there and fight it like nothing was bothering her. Because something was bothering her—Tsunade's letter.

Sakura stood up and quietly entered the building. Temari and Taki didn't notice because of their fight. Gaara didn't notice, for he'd resigned himself to his work for the rest of the day without interrupting himself to think about her. No one was even aware as the kunoichi sulked back to the Kazekage's room and fell into the bed with her mentor's letter tucked next to her heart.

And she slept past nightfall.

When Sakura woke up the sky was dark and the room felt hot and constraining. She had an idea of what time it was—it couldn't have been too late because Gaara was not in the room. She crawled out of the bed and rubbed her hands over the damp clothes against her skin. Had she had a nightmare or something? Or was it just her body succumbing to the strong Suna heat?

"Bath…" she said. "That's going to help." It was the only thing she could think about doing at the moment.

And then she'd write a letter informing Tsuande about what was going on—at least an edited version. After all, would Tsunade or anyone even believe her if she tried to tell the truth?

As interesting as it was that she, and only she, was able to calm the demon inside of him, it wasn't going to benefit her. Disclosing that would mean admitting that she'd actually spent the night in the same room as Gaara of the Sand, and she wasn't going to be labeled as that "toy" of his.

And that thought alone was as chilling as the water she'd dumped over her head. It was cold, but that was just the way she needed it at that moment.

"Haven't seen Sakura around most of the day," Taki said.

Gaara, passing by the eating area, heard Taki's comment and paused to wait for his sister's reply. Temari sat calmly next to her. They were relaxing after their day of sparring no doubt.

"I know," said Temari. "One moment she was sitting right there watching us, and the next she's run off somewhere."

"Just when I kicked your ass, too. I was looking forward to fighting with her if she's able to handle you some days."

"Yeah, she can be a handful."

Gaara mentally scoffed. _So true_.

The Kazekage didn't stick around to finish the conversations. But he kept thinking that maybe he should have kept an eye on her throughout the day like the demon inside him kept telling him to do. But the night was getting on. She might have retired to their room without anyone knowing.

"My room." He corrected himself quickly. Just because she was a frequent inhabitant didn't give her any free reign over his property.

_But then again_, he thought on opening the door, _I could learn to live… with… her_.

And there, in all her glory, in the middle of his bedroom, was a very nude Sakura.

It only took her a moment to note his presence, and for the first minute or two Sakura could only open and close her mouth as if she could not think of anything to say, and her hands—ever so slowly—raised the garment they were holding to cover the most basic of areas.

"What—what are you doing here?!"

"There rooms are mine, woman. I am free to come and go through them as I like. My rooms." As Gaara said this, he couldn't help but think about his comment earlier.

"Of course, if you wish to walk about in that state of undress, you may walk freely among these rooms as well."

Sakura blanched disbelievingly but then scampered back into the bathroom to fully compose herself.

Gaara walked over to the bed and set his gourd down beside it before lying completely on top of the covers and waiting for her return.

There would be no way of composing herself after that.

"Oh my— What the heck just happened?" Sakura asked her reflection in the water she'd splashed on her face. Even Shino hadn't seen that much of her!

Gaara, eyes closed, could almost hear her inner turmoil from his position. He wouldn't outwardly smile, but the Kazekage wasn't going to lie—that was a good sight to come home to. He tried to burn the image into the backs of his eyes for now.

Then it introduced another enigma: was there another reason besides sleep that he wanted to keep her there? This Sakura Haruno was able to puzzle him. As well as captivate him, if his reaction moments ago was any indication. In all his years, Gaara had never met a person that could simultaneously be useful as well as able to command his attention quite like this girl... It was frustrating, but at the same time kind of refreshing.

The only other woman had been Taki, and that was because of the no-bullshit attitude about her. But she and Sakura were on two different sides of the spectrum.

"C'mon Sakura," she told herself. "You're a kunoichi trained to be able to seduce strangers with your body. This can't be any different!" She looked at the door between them.

"Damn it. It _is_ different," she whispered. "It's different because it's _him_. It's Gaara.

Sakura mentally prepared herself for the teasing she was going to get once she opened that door and walked into the room.

But finally she managed to open it and walk out with her head as high as usual.

"Oh, you put clothes on?" He faked a sad face.

Sakura shot the Kazekage a death glare.

"Whatever. Not like you're ever going to see that again."

"We'll see." Gaara lay on the bed looking at the ceiling. He was aware without even looking at his kunoichi that her mouth was hanging wide open.

"How dare you! I wouldn't get close to you naked if my life depended on it. In fact, I don't think any woman would. You're too screwed up in the head."

Gaara didn't say anything. Her words now, not to mention her letter to Shino that he'd read earlier were starting to get to him.

"In fact, I bet I'm the only women you've ever seen naked. Hope you got a good look because with the way you're going, I'll bet it doesn't happen—"

He rose from the bed and stalked over to where she was standing by the bathroom door.

Sakura was unable to read the expression on his face, but he did not seem to be joking around any longer.

"For your information, Haruno, I have seen plenty of women in my time."

As Gaara pushed her further and further toward the wall with his stare, he couldn't help but notice how innocent she looked. She was out of her territory being this close to him and looked up at his tall frame with large eyes that weren't so much afraid of him as they were curious.

But she didn't feel as cocky as she had the night before. Would he try to touch her in the same way?

And knowing how it felt before, would she try and stop him?

Gaara actually swallowed as he looked at her and said, "but none of them were quite like you."

The pinkette was just thinking about how cliché that sounded when he finally—and timidly she would add—lowered toward her lips. This was not like the other night. This was a completely different Gaara. Sakura could feel, finally feel the skin to skin contact of their lips. He grazed his tongue on her lower lips when she didn't react. The taste of him wasn't bad.

"Gaara… what are you doing?" Sakura questioned. She felt her mouth water a little, and the heat of his body radiated onto hers until she felt her cheeks and necks flamed.

"I think you know, Sakura," he began.

Sakura wanted to shake her head and declare that she didn't. But it was no use lying to the man. For all the misery that he had caused her in the last few months, there was something about this Kazekage that begged to be touched and wanted just like everyone else. Shukaku was able to pick up on his desire, and the demon knew that if anyone could be that person for Gaara, it was this healer.

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Gaara had chosen Sakura just as Shukaku had.

The rosette could only tell you of the sensation of hands roaming over her waist, chest, neck—anywhere that Gaara could have put them. She remembered responding to his touches, battling his fervent tongue with her own.

She didn't realize when he had maneuvered them in the opposite direction toward the bed, but once it hit the back of her legs Sakura fell back onto the plush like it was the most natural motion to do.

Gaara stood looking at her in all her beauty. Her pink hair splayed around her head contrasted beautifully with the cream of the bed spread. The pink of her cheeks effortlessly accented the mint emerald color of her eyes.

He stared down at her with an expression that she wasn't able to read.

She sat up on her elbows, sending heated looks at him until he knelt on the floor between her parted legs.

Her emotions sobered up a little. The woman pushed her body toward the edge of the bed until she could grasp his face in her small, capable hands and send silent questions his way.

"No matter how hard I try I can't seem to explain why I feel that way I do when I'm around you.

"You have this power—this bewitching spell over me." He leaned forward to land small, punctuated kisses over her collarbone and neck as he spoke.

Sakura sat very still, enjoying his affections but for the most part she didn't want to interrupt Gaara. He had never been this intimate with her before, and it was as if he was speaking to himself rather than to her.

"I am thankful for the sleep that you give me." Gaara felt calm as he was pouring his mind out for her, no doubt a symptom of her power.

Another kiss on her jaw.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" Gaara remembered the earlier image of her nude body and the image of her body laid out on the bed not minutes before.

Another kiss on her cheek.

"I'll never regret entering your bedroom that night."

A kiss on her mouth. Sakura returned the emotionally charged kiss full force.

Time froze for Gaara as he pulled back to lean his forehead against hers.

And he knew.

The thought was upsetting at the least. The idea that Gaara, the Kazekage, could actually be falling for a simple Leaf kunoichi was entirely inconceivable. But it was true. The man knew in that moment, as he listed off what he thought about her and their past month together flashed before his eyes that life would never be the same in Sand. He was going to do all he could to keep the woman with him because he no longer felt the strength to return to his old ways.

He didn't have the strength to let her go. And it wasn't just because of the sleep.

It's because she was Sakura Haruno. He had decided to trick her into loving him, and it had backfired.

Badly.

Gaara sighed and stood up. He looked at her and hoped that everything he was feeling could be conveyed to her with one, complex gaze. But he knew it couldn't.

"I'm sorry. I…" He paused. "I have…things to take care of." And out the door he went.

Sakura followed his ki as he walked down the hall and downstairs where she lost track of it somewhere near his office. She was embarrassed and sexually unsatisfied, but most of all she was confused.

That look he gave her held his own confusion, but also… a gentle caring emotion. She fell back onto the bed fully clothed and with the lights on.

Her eyes closed, and for once the room felt completely and utterly empty without his presence.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tsuyoku: Wow, guys. Totally didn't expect that to actually happen as I was finishing the chapter. I literally had 7/8ths of this written, but the problem was the ending of the chapter. I didn't like my original plan for it. So, after much procrastinating and lots of coffee, I sat down and inspired myself over the course of a few hours to… well, procrastinate more until I managed to finish it! Yay! But rest assured (and I know I always say this) that I have started on the next chapter. And because of the ending for this chapter, I think I'm inspired enough to at least get half of it out soon! R&R!


	12. Absence Makes the Heart

TYK: As promised, here is #12!

And thanks to the reviewers who pointed out the problem with the content and the rating. I up-ed it to T because this fic does include adult themes, however minor they are. And according to the ratings guidelines, K+ has no adult themes. Figured I'd be safe on that one.

Sound Sleep Ch12:

Absence Makes the Heart…

It had been four weeks.

Four whole, damn weeks since the _incident_ where Gaara left her hanging in his bedroom.

And after that the Kazekage had developed a sudden love for work because she had seen him thrice, and at no time had he spoken to or acknowledged her. It made her mad, deservingly because he had, after all, legally kidnapped her from her home and brought her to Suna only to seduce her body and soul before going back to treating her like she didn't exist. And worse, he wasn't even sleeping in the same room.

Which meant that he wasn't sleeping at all.

And that wasn't good for the country. Gaara had gotten used to having slept every night for however long he'd been using her. And he'd gotten grouchy after only one night of her sleeping in Temari's room…

Sakura sat out in the gardens during the day as she usually did, but lately her thoughts were constantly on her situation, eyes focused on Gaara's office window where she'd hoped to get a glimpse of the man while she pondered what was going on.

Sakura had finally vowed to get to Gaara—to get him to trust her as he trusted someone like Taki—and letting Gaara touch and kiss on her those few times were considered part of that plan, which happened to backfire in the end because she hadn't realized just how much she liked the way he touched her. Or the way that no matter how deep a sleep she was in, lately the pinkette was able to tell whether or not Gaara was in the room. Not that she needed to be guarded or anything, but his presence did make her feel safe—and wanted.

And she'd become accustom to his attention. Most of all the way that he had been looking at her up to that night in the bedroom.

His eyes used to be so vulnerable when they allowed her to see past the barrier that he'd previously erected against anyone who wanted in. They told her that he cared for her… even in the slightest. But he'd walked right out the door afterward.

And that was the biggest blow.

Sakura had fallen asleep hoping that he would wake her when he came back to the room from…wherever he went that night. But he hadn't returned. She could tell by the way she'd slept—being alone in the room just wasn't the same.

The lights were still on when she woke up.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Sakura," Taki added once a silence had come over the conversation.

"Well, you talk to him. You interact together. Can't you tell me anything about what he's feeling or the way that he's acting?" Sakura's intentions in arranging a late lunch out in town with the other ninja were simply to get information from the woman in a neutral setting. As surprised as Taki was when she had been asked by the young girl, she'd been expecting this conversation to come up because of her business relationship with said man.

Taki had known Gaara since they were young. He was older than she was, and by the time she'd heard of him it was because of his notorious inhuman nature. But her family had worked with the administration for decades, so she'd gotten the job and come to know the then Kazekage a little bit better through those connections and her experience as a Suna nin.

After a few years, Taki realized that she actually had a sort-of relationship with Gaara that no one else seem to have: an understanding. Later Gaara would tell her that it was because she had a no bullshit attitude about her work and wasn't using him for anything. Plus she was a woman, and women friends always came in handy for something. The thought would have been nice had it not been followed with a comment about older businessmen from other countries liking something nice to look at when they walked into the building.

But nonetheless she had developed this friendship with Gaara, and she had followed his every command without question since then.

And she would be damned if she was going to betray the trust that Gaara had in her for a visiting medic. If Sakura asked something she didn't need to know, Taki would stand by her loyalties to the Kazekage.

He'd come to her once, just as the girl across the table from her had that day, wanting advice and to talk. He wasn't the most articulate man on the planet but had said enough that she'd easily gotten the gist of the situation with Sakura. The brunette would be the first to admit that when Gaara had returned from Leaf with the pinkette, she'd been a little jealous of all the time he was spending with Sakura, especially during the night. Then Taki had learned about their situation. And it was as if this Sakura Haruno was no longer a threat in suddenly taking her place as the only woman to really know the Kazekage.

Ever since then she had seen a change within Gaara from his moods to his overall treatment of other people, and the reason for all this was probably that girl.

"Look," Taki said. She didn't really know what to do with the woman because every time they'd been around each other, Temari had been there to act as the buffer, the mutual friend. "Sure, Gaara has changed since you've been here, but that's always been for the better. These days, it seems like nothing happened and he's gone back to exactly the way he was before you… well, you know what I mean. Maybe Gaara is a little more grouchy than usual, if anything. But it's not like it's hurting the country. He was _just as good_ a leader before you came along."

Taki noticed how Sakura's eyes dimmed slightly with her words.

"But you've changed, too, Sakura. Sure, I didn't really know you from the beginning, but your first couple of weeks here were rough."

"All I could see in you was a constant struggle for freedom as if you were imprisoned by this country and our leader. But now that's changed. I don't see the same resistance in you, possibly because you're more open to him than you have ever been. Like something happened…"

Sakura could help but listen to Taki's words as she stared at her. It was true when she thought about it. There was a turning point that she couldn't put her finger on when she had gone from a prisoner to a willing participant—even if she still resisted against Gaara every now and then.

She'd suddenly lost her appetite.

Taki finished her food in silence as Sakura frowned at nothing in particular, and as she stood from the table, Sakura looked up.

"Perhaps the best plan of action would be to time things right and talk to him. If he's really been avoiding you then cornering him is eventually going to get him angry or riled up enough that he says something to you. Then with the ball rolling you could find out for yourself," Taki forced herself to say. They walked out into the sun and back to the administration building mostly in silence.

Taki figured that it was best for the two to work it out themselves. She wanted to keep Gaara's confidence but make him happy at the same time. If it would eventually make him happy that she gave Sakura advice and let it all settle between them, then she was going to do so. And she could tell that he was just as confused as Sakura.

Until they arrived back home, the rosette just pondered what it meant to be so concerned with someone who seemed so off limits to her.

"Tsunade, I don't know what's up with you! I tell you that I haven't received a letter from Sakura in over a month, and you still won't let me go find out what's wrong!"

"Shino, I don't appreciate the tone you're taking with me. You forget that I am your superior. And I am well aware of the fact that Sakura has stopped communicating with us. I sent a letter to her as well to which I have not received a reply. I am worried for her, but the thought of sending someone out there to check on her would only serve to infuriate the Kazekage. Gaara isn't stupid, and he knows about your "relationship" with Sakura. He's not going to take an intrusion from you of all people very lightly," Tsunade said as she sat across from Shino at her desk.

"There has to be something that we can do. I just… I need to know."

At the tone in his voice, Tsunade looked up. "You seem resigned about something."

"When the letters stopped coming, it was around the time I actually told Sakura how I felt. I finally decided to get it over with and write to her telling her that I didn't want it to be an unspoken secret between us anymore. And when I pressed the issue for her to return the sentiment, the letters suddenly stopped," Shino said. He rubbed his hands over his face to rub out any confusion in his eyes behind the dark sunglasses. "I have to know what's going on. Does she love me, but the letters aren't getting back here? Or does she not love me and doesn't want to hurt my feelings?

"You realize that it is not wise to have relationships with other nins?"

"Well," he replied. "We can't all control how we feel about others, can we?"

"Understood. As long as you stay level headed about situations like this."

"I'm trying to keep a cool head, but I can't help asking myself, is there someone else?"

At Shino's last question, Tsunade's mind shot to what Naruto had said when he returned:

_Yes. Unless I am wrong, Sakura is sleeping in Gaara's room. And he was in there with her. I sensed it_.

"Shino, I will think about it and let you know as soon as I have made a decision regarding this. For the time being, I need you to find Naruto and tell him to come speak to me in confidence."

Shino knew that she wasn't telling him everything about Sakura, especially when she wanted to talk to Naruto without him there. She wasn't going to send Naruto instead, was she? The blond had managed to get himself suspended from missions—even though no one knew how exactly—and Shino would be damned if he went out there without him.

_I'm going to get down to the bottom of this. She's only been gone for three months, and I know she had feelings for me when she left. Has the distance between us changed how she feels_?

It was a few minutes before Naruto arrived, and Shino wasn't happy to see that he was asked to leave while Tsunade talked to the blond. The bug man didn't understand what was going on, but he was going to see Sakura and find out everything even if he had to leave without permission.

He walked along the dirt path back toward the main part of town while thoughts ran through his head about the inevitable conversation he was going to have with Sakura.

"I have to find him," Sakura said to herself. "Find him and make him talk to me." She wouldn't openly admit it, but the memory of Gaara's voice was strong in her mind yet so foreign at the same time. She wanted to hear it again. Just like Shino's. And at the thought of the bug man she stopped walking and let her mind run away with her for a moment.

She leaned on the wall in the middle of the hallway thinking about him, her hands rubbing the stress from her eyes. Since she'd been obsessed with Gaara for the past four weeks, she hadn't thought much about Shino or his letter or the fact that she hadn't yet received a reply.

_Maybe my letter wasn't enough for him_...

She looked up from her palms and noticed the long empty hallway around her. Sakura saw the equal distances from either side of her and couldn't remember whether she was coming or going any more.

Sakura stared to her right, the direction she'd been heading to find Gaara, and without much thought, she impulsively began walking toward his office for a confrontation long overdue.

When she reached the next floor, she saw Gaara at the other end of yet another hallway.

She couldn't believe it—there he was just walking down the hall toward his office like absolutely nothing was wrong with his life and as if he wasn't destroying hers.

The gourd on his back moved with him, but once she got closer, she saw it slow down as he paced himself. Gaara knew that she was there.

And the bastard didn't have the guts to acknowledge her first?

"What the hell?" Sakura said to his back.

He stopped right where he was, but that was the only indication that he was paying attention to her words.

"What's going on with you?" It's not like Sakura missed him or anything. But she was worried about him not sleeping in the room with her. That was the reason she was in Suna after all. And Gaara not taking advantage of sleep she could provide him was the sign that something was wrong.

Of course, the something that went wrong was probably a certain session of hot and heavy touching they'd had before Gaara called everything off. He just walked out on her and… left her hanging, for lack of a better expression. It was that fact that scared Sakura: she'd been all for it, ready to be taken and loved and finally accepted.

It was no surprise that there was a bit of sexual tension between the two. Even if she hated the man when she was first dragged to Suna, sharing a room with him every night for a couple of months was inevitably going to replace that hate with curiosity. Of course, that curiosity had soon developed into rage when she realized that there was no reason for her to be there in Sand if he wasn't going to use her to sleep, and yet she wasn't allowed to go home of her free will.

"I've barely seen you. You haven't acknowledged me in weeks," Sakura said. She broke the stiff silence in the hall.

_What's bothering him? I wish he would just trust me. He doesn't seem to have a problem talking to Taki.._.

"Is it because of that night?"

Gaara remained stiff. She could see the muscles in his shoulders tense and relax beneath his gourd reacting to what she was saying.

Sakura sighed in desperation. "You're going to have to speak to me eventually."

_Actually_, the pinkette mused to herself, _he really doesn't _have_ to speak to me for the next three months if he doesn't want to_.

_You can't give in_, Gaara said to himself. _You cannot give in to this woman. Those kinds of feelings almost got you killed once. Never again_.

"I'm scared, Gaara."

Sakura registered a slight turn of his head. At least she had part of his attention for the time being.

"I was so set in my ways to hate you for the entire six months when you forced me to come here. And even though I'm glad that I've started to let go of that anger at you, I'm still afraid of what was happening that night. "

She still had his attention—that much was obvious as he turned his ear even closer to her voice. She began to walk closer to him, slowly so she wouldn't startle him. He might bolt from her with the grace of a delicate doe in the presence of its predator.

"I won't say that, given the chance, I wouldn't go back to Konoha, but I will say this: I can tell that you miss my presence as much as I miss yours." Sakura tried to put it delicately and not reveal anything too personal, but he needed to know that they were probably feeling the same way at that moment.

She was close to him now, very close. If she reached out, her finger would touch the hard curved of the gourd that hid most of his back. A step forward and Sakura managed to brushed the shoulder unoccupied by the sand container. She felt how warm he was, even more than usual in the Suna heat and longed for that warmth against her once more. She couldn't believe she was actually wishing for his touch rather than repelling it like she should be doing. It was time to admit that there was only so long she could go without feeling a connection with another human being. And since she'd been there, Gaara was the only one that had extended that connection whether it was for his own gain or not.

"I don't want my stay here to be wasted when you fought so hard to get me in the first place."

He still didn't respond to her, but his shoulders did relax. Sakura wondered if it was her words or presence that was comforting to him.

"Isn't it lonely, Gaara? Trying to keep people away?"

Later, she would wonder if she really got to him with her words or if he just caved in to the need to be around her, but Gaara finally turned toward her and grabbed her wrist. Without hesitation, in a whirlwind of sandy heat and stumbling feet, Gaara took them up to his room.

Within the bedroom, Gaara threw Sakura onto the bed, and after dropping his gourd to its old resting spot next to the desk, he joined her on the bed, crawling up her body until his face was on level with hers.

Sakura thought he was going to continue where they'd left off, and the stoic look on his face was so obviously betrayed by the trust in his eyes that she was almost okay with the idea.

He stared at her for a moment before grabbing her waist and letting his weight fall to the bed. With barely any noise from the outside penetrating their world, and with Gaara's head resting in the crook of her neck, he slept.

Content with the situation, Sakura closed her own eyes and rested.

"I'm giving you this mission because… well, I don't exactly know the reason," Tsunade said. "This is highly against our agreement, and the Kazekage could easily take this as an intrusion. But I'm hoping that you're able to stay long enough to check up on Sakura."

Naruto stood before her, eagerly excited that the Hokage had lifted is hold on missions and decided to finally send him to Suna.

"Maybe you are using me for the fact that Gaara and I are friends?" the blond asked.

Tsunade just smiled knowingly. "Perhaps. I am going to let you choose who else will go with you. If, under the mission's pretenses, you are to go alone, the Kazekage might be suspicious that we are checking up on him. But I strongly advise you to choose wisely. There are some people that obviously wouldn't be suited for this—"

"Shino," Naruto said without hesitation.

"You realize that's exactly who I was talking about. He's a liability—personally involved."

In an eloquent moment, Naruto replied, "But who in this village isn't personally involved? Some more than others, but in this case even you would be up on the list with Shino of who not to send."

Tsunade admitted that he was telling the truth. "That's a moot point, at best, when you take into consideration that should your observation of Sakura's sleeping arrangements be brought to his attention, our alliance with Suna would surely be compromised. Shino is powerful, but should he challenge the Kazekage of all people, with whom we are allies, he might be considered a traitor to Konoha. Are you prepared to take responsibility for Shino knowing how serious he feels for Sakura?"

Naruto nodded. "That's why I wouldn't trust anyone else with Sakura's safety. The point of the mission is to make sure she is alright _as well as_ doing her duties stated by the contract. If she isn't, we must act in the best interest of Konoha and bring her back to be disciplined for failing to follow obligations in a mission. And the problem would be solved." He smirked.

The Hokage nodded blankly, and Naruto, satisfied with her silence, left the room without another word.

Tsunade was speechless. Where was the young, whiney boy from the ninja academy? Where was the obstinate, borderline guileless boy that was in her office merely the week before? For having nothing worthwhile to say most of the time, Naruto was approaching his dreams of greatness if he spoke like that more often.

She smiled at the empty space where he once stood. "Uzumaki, what wouldn't you do or say for a friend?"

"Get your gear together. I'm not going to tell you twice."

Shino looked at the fox-boy with a raised eyebrow. "Nice to see you, too."

Naruto's face was unchanged.

"If you speak in that tone more often, more people would take you seriously, you know?" When Uzumaki had barged into his quarters without so much as a knock or a hello, Shino noticed something off about him, something more stubborn and commanding than usual.

"Duly noted, Shino."

"While I get my things together, kindly tell me what it's for since you're so full of authority today," Shino said while getting up from the floor of his living area.

"We're going to Suna, you and I."

The blond saw Shino's movements increase in ferocity at the words. They didn't speak again until after the edges of Konoha were barely in sight.

"I've been over it so many times in my head, but I still don't know what I will say or ask Sakura when I finally see her."

"How about you start with _hi_," Naruto laughed, "and then go from there?"

Shino shot him a glare at the obvious sarcasm in the blond's tone, while their strong legs kept pushing them close and closer to Suna in silence.

Tsuyoku: Wow! So glad to have this finally typed up and published! Hope you like it. Guess I'm going into a "story arch" here, but it's definitely going to start leading up to some serious stuff… but we'll see about that. It won't be long in between updates. I'm ashamed to say that my fics have been neglected for about a year before I updated Tempt of Fate and now this one. R&R guys! Let me know what you think!


	13. Reunion

TYK: #13 Heats up the ranks with some interaction between the lovers… all of them.

…

Sound Sleep Ch13:

Having left Konoha in the early evening, Naruto and Shino arrived at the borders of Suna as the night was well under way. They'd made great time—probably both their personal bests—as there had been absolutely no stops on the way. Both men were on the edge of exhausted, but they remained cool and collected as they approached the guard.

"State your names and land of origin."

Naruto could trace the power signals of the two men before they even jumped out in front of them. He spoke as professionally as he could, not trusting Shino to be too cordial rather than demand to see Sakura and get them both kicked out. They were going to have to play it a little safe if they hoped to remain there long enough to see Sakura. He was glad the other nin remained stoic behind him.

"We're here to see the Kazekage about matters with Konoha," Naruto continued. He was about to say more before he felt a strong force approaching him. He worried for a second that it might be the man he was seeking, but when another blonde appeared in front of him, he raised an eyebrow.

"Uzumaki," Temari said. Sure, they knew the other vessel pretty well. Her brother had a relationship with Naruto that could almost be considered friendship. But that didn't explain why he'd shown up without notice after nightfall. "Who's this?"

"Shino," said the bug man. He didn't say anything further, and by the deepening look on Temari's face, it was obvious that he didn't need to.

Luckily she'd been outside and had come to greet the two first instead of Gaara. This wasn't good.

"You've come to spy on Gaara?"

"We're here as agents of Konoha who simply want to make sure our ambassador is doing her job. She must be making a good name for Leaf while she's here. Our treaty depends on it."

"This political tongue suits you, Naruto. But I fail to understand why, if your intentions were purely based on business, you would be arriving at this time of night."

"We made better time than we thought we would." Shino spoke again. He wasn't in any mood to deal with this bullshit. He wanted to get in and talk to Sakura as soon as he could whether he had to wake her up or not.

"You wouldn't turn away messengers of Konoha, would you, Temari? Certainly the Hokage wouldn't appreciate your hostility when we're simply trying to check up on our nin. Or should we take your unwillingness to cooperate as an act of aggression and breech of contract?"

Temari would have rubbed her temples if it wouldn't be a sign of weakness to the two men. They were obviously waiting on an answer, but she was weighing which one was really worse: upsetting the Hokage and potentially pitting the two countries against each other or being the one to have to tell Gaara that Sakura's would-be lover from Konoha had shown up to try and wedge between them. In the end, she picked the latter, She was sure Gaara would have his own words to say to the duo despite his friendly terms with one of them.

"Fine. But you won't have an opportunity to speak to the Kazekage until morning, so you'll just have to wait." She led them to one of the hotels on the edge of the city and dropped them there with assurance that their rooms were on the house. She didn't want them staying with them on the off chance they might start to snoop around, and having them on the other side of the city was just another time deterrent until she could notify Gaara and get things sorted out.

When she returned home, she realized just how bad the situation was. For the past month, Gaara had been avoiding Sakura for some reason or another. For all the work Kankuro and she had done to get them to make up, it had been useless. Sakura wouldn't come clean with what actually happened, but the good news was that the pinkette was obviously worried about Gaara and wanted them to work things out. So, Sakura had started to come over to their side after all.

The problem with this was the fact that Gaara finally given in. Temari stood outside his suite, feeling both of their presences inside, most likely sleeping. Gaara would have been quite on edge if the two Leaf nins had shown up a couple days ago, but it was worse now that their arrival threatened to take Sakura away—emotionally at least—just when they'd finally given in to each other.

The blonde realized that she must look quite stupid just standing in the hallway shifting her eyes back and forth, knowing that she had to knock and notify the Kazekage of their arrival, but something was holding her back. She hated being the bearer of bad news. Finally, as she'd gotten the courage to knock, the door opened and her knuckles rapt through thin air.

"You'd better have a good reason for coming here," Gaara growled. Knowing how he acted the last time he'd been asleep in the bed with Sakura, the kage was surprised that he even sensed Temari outside the door, but he supposed Shukaku kept an ear out, so to speak, for intruders when he was sleeping.

"I know that you're finally getting sleep tonight, but there's something urgent you must know about." Temari looked inside the room where she could see Sakura's form still asleep in the bed. "But we shouldn't talk here. This is better kept in the walls of your office for now."

Gaara wasn't sure what all the secrecy was about. Sakura wasn't really a threat to national security, and the entire floor as well as those above and below were used only by him and his 'family.' But nevertheless he followed her down to his office, and once inside the room she turned to him.

"Asking you not to be angry is probably a little too much in this situation, but no more than an hour ago Naruto Uzumaki breeched the territory and has announced he is on official business from the Hokage to check up on their ambassador."

"Seems like the Hokage is starting to get antsy that she hasn't heard back from the woman. Easy enough to deal with. I don't see the need to get worked up about anything."

"His companion is a man named Shino. I'm sure you know exactly who I'm talking about."

Gaara said nothing, but by the grim set of his jaw line and the sudden tensing of his shoulders, it was obvious that he wasn't pleased that his rival had arrived.

'So close,' he thought. The woman was so close to falling for him as depicted by her tactics to get him to return to sleeping in his room. But this man had been nothing but trouble, a blockade to keep Sakura from him. And Gaara knew it was going to set him back.

That thought made him even angrier. He'd gone a month without sleeping even though she was obviously worried about him. And that had been difficult. Sure, he was thrown off by his little revelation when he had been on top of her, but truth be told, he'd avoided her mostly because he needed to know how she felt about missing him. And he'd gotten his answer tonight.

Only to have the rug pulled out from under him.

"I know that they are here to check on her and possibly find some way for her to return with them—"

Gaara interrupted her. "I'm not going to let that happen... They won't be allowed to see her."

"That's not really a choice. She's a Konoha nin, first and foremost. And it's our duty to the treaty you went so far I out of your way to obtain to let them see her. If not, Naruto claimed it would be a violation of the agreement, and you know they'd jump at any opportunity to get her to return to Konoha."

What was he to do? As a statesman, he knew the job. He knew the repercussions of disobeying the order of things. But damn it all, for the first time in his life, this was personal. He had so much invested in their time together that it was not an option to loose now.

"So what are you going to do?"

Gaara never responded. He just stood in front of his desk and ran through different situations like battle plans in his head, waiting for one to hold the answer.

…

Sakura waited until both of then had left the floor before taking in a deep breath and rising from the bed. Feigning sleep had been difficult to do when she was so curious. They'd never been interrupted like this before, so something had to be going on. And whatever it was, it was important enough to risk Gaara's wrath by waking him. But what could it be? Obviously the place wasn't under attack or everyone would be on guard. No, Temari had something she needed to share without Sakura hearing.

The pinkette wasn't sure how to go about finding out what it was though. She was sure they would sense her approach well before she got to the office door to listen in, so eavesdropping was out. But she wasn't going to be able to go to sleep if she knew they were hiding something.

And here she'd been beginning to trust them.

But something seemed out of place. And she was going to find out sooner rather than later. At least she was still in her clothes, since Gaara hadn't given her any time to change into anything else, but it saved her the time of getting dressed when she could be out already. She turned toward the door but paused. Walking down the halls and throughout the building was risky. Anyone was likely to see her and mention it to Gaara later. Sakura bit her lip.

Without even looking out the window, she already knew there was nothing to land on should she decide to jump. But she felt the risk was one she'd be forced to take eventually. As she perched a knee on the on the stone sill, she might have hissed at the sensation of the sandpaper-like facade digging into her bare knee, but Sakura's mind was miles away and wondering what was going on with the Kazekage. The last time he was so secretive about things, she was carted off to Suna against her will. Now wasn't the time for more surprises. The situation between the two of them was confusing enough with all the touching, the kissing, and the sleeping in the same bed...

_Way to complicate things, girl_, she thought to herself. _Here you thought you were going to ignore him for the entire six months only to start actually enjoying the things he's been doing_. The situation seemed optimal when Gaara started to develop feelings for her. Sakura figured that she was going to make him fall for her—make him feel for her and allow her to go home when her time was up. _If you love her, let her go_, she quoted in her head, hand hovering over her cheeks aflame.

Sakura shook her head. This wasn't the time to be romantic. Whether or not Gaara was falling for her was a moot point. There were suspicious happenings afoot.

She finally leapt from the window and aimed for the soft spot she imagined was on the ground beneath her. She scanned the surrounding areas for stray auras around just in case others were patrolling the area. It wouldn't look good for a lone figure to be jumping from one of the upper floors of the administrative building, guest or no. Especially since she was practically a stranger from a foreign land.

But there was something about the auras that she picked up that were vaguely familiar. Something about them irked her senses, sending up red flags in her mind.

'Who are these coming from?' she asked herself. 'I know... I know those signatures.' Sakura turned her head. They were somewhere across the base. But to be even registering on her senses they would have to be relatively strong individuals being as far from her as they were. She wasn't great at picking out the chakras of others, not compared to some of her teammates. She immediately set out in the direction of the two signals unbeknownst to her captor.

…

"You have no choice," Temari said. "You have to let them see each other."

"She'll know I've cut off her communication."

"Whose fault is that?"

Gaara wasn't about to answer.

"She's going to find out that no one has gotten her letters. She's going to be angry at you. And she's going to close herself off from you. And you have no one to blame but yourself! You've gone about this the wrong way the entire time she's been here, and because of your stupidity, you're going to lose the best thing that's ever happened to you!" Temari was fuming at the idea. Sure, he had good intentions, for himself at least, when he made the decision to intercept all her messages. But all the good it had done was about to be reversed when Sakura saw the man she left behind in Konoha.

The blonde hadn't intended to make Gaara angry, only to make him realize that he'd ruined his chance with the pinkette and would now have to start over. But her brother was less than amused, and she found herself against the wall with an arm of sand wrapping around her neck and clenching hard. More firm than she'd ever felt it grasp her before.

"You forget your place. I am well aware of the repercussions, but regardless of her feelings, she's still mine for the next three months. Plenty of time to change her back."

Temari landed on her rear end, gasping for air and clenching her windpipe as if it would pop out at any moment. She stood to leave, but her last words—as raspy as they might have been—weren't lost on the lord.

"Just goes to show how little you understand about human behavior."

Meanwhile, Sakura hadn't yet reached the boys, but Shino was already hoping for better company. His foot tapped in obvious anxiety over finally seeing Sakura again, but their reunion couldn't come soon enough as far as he was concerned. It was annoying just sharing a room with Naruto without her to calm him down.

The blond just sat on the other cot, complaining about their arrangements. "Really? They couldn't even let us stay in the administrative building? I've heard the beds are sooooo nice." He leaned back in his little bed, the squeak sounding through the room. They both pretended not to cringe at the grating sound. "Though I admit, it would be so much better if I had more attractive company here with me. You aren't exactly a sight for sore eyes."

Shino raised an eyebrow.

"I mean if I'd known I'd be shacking up with my partner, I might have picked someone a little better to look at."

The bug nin knew the blond didn't have the kind of courage he spouted. Put him in the same room with the quiet kunoichi Naruto was probably referring to and they'd probably never get any thing done.

After a moment of silence, he finally stood up and walked toward the door. "I'm going to find her."

"Not a good idea, my man. You know the Kazekage is probably on the prowl."

"Oh, I guarantee he's not."

Naruto paused with confusion on his face, but quickly followed as the dark-haired man flew down the stairs and exited the building. "C'mon, Shino, I'm all for bursting in on the Sands, but this might not help our case!"

"Since when did you become so level-headed?" He yelled as he was walking out the front door.

There was no response. Their heads shot toward the distance, inquiring about an oncoming figure. Fast. Shino would have taken the offensive position had he not recognized her. He'd know her anywhere.

"Sakura," Shino said.

Naruto nodded.

Outside, Sakura reached the inn only to find the door open and two of her friends standing in the front courtyard. A gasp of desperation left her lips as she took in the two standing before her.

They obviously weren't as surprised to see her as she was them.

"You guys!" She couldn't believe they were there. In Suna. "Please tell me you're here to take me home."

Sakura frowned for a moment. Where had that come from? Hadn't she gotten used to her little routine? Hadn't she been the ready and willing laying beneath Gaara not a month ago? Hadn't she been the one pinning for his presence again ever since?

_Holy hell. What's happened to me_? She blushed slightly, ashamed that Shino looked so relieved to see her. How could she face him when she could still feel the lips of the Kazekage against hers?

Oblivious to her inner turmoil, Shino walked over to her and embraced her as tight as he was able to. Had it only been three months since he felt her pressed against him? His touch was as desperate as it had been when she was leaving Konoha, but Sakura was completely unaware.

"Sakura," Naruto began. "You don't know how much of a relief it is to know that you're alright." He thought about going in for a three-way hug, but he didn't figure Shino would appreciate his affection. "We've missed you."

"I've missed you, too."

The silent man took no time in seeking the truth. "So why didn't you write back?"

Shino pulled away to look her deep in the eyes as he asked her a question that held a lot deeper meaning.

"What do you mean?"

"I was hoping you would respond to my last message. I've been waiting, but you never wrote me back." If only she was aware of how much heartache she'd caused him. If only she was aware of how much he was in love with her.

"I did, Shino." She watched him frown. "I do."

He seemed to understand her meaning. She felt something for him as well. But was it love? Because she was starting to mix her emotions these days, and the idea of love had changed ever since she'd come to this foreign land with a man she barely knew.

Naruto raised his eyebrows. It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were talking about, but for now he figured he'd pretend their cryptic conversation was over his head. "So why haven't we heard from you?"

"Are you even listening to me?" Sakura asked. "I've written back to every letter I've received from you guys."

Shino shook his head. He'd known this was going to happen. That damn Kazekage was trying to keep her all for himself, but in the end, Shino couldn't deny that the leader had done a favor for him. "So that damn bastard thought he could get away with cutting of all our communication?"

Sakura paled. Somehow she knew he wasn't referring to Konoha and her when he said _our_. She hadn't even thought that Gaara would have done such a thing. And it made perfect sense. After seeing Shino's letter—she gulped—that one about his feelings for her, Gaara hadn't been happy. And the message had even disappeared from the desk in his room never to be seen again. "Why would he do that? I trusted—I trusted him…" Foolishness set in on her face, obviously realizing that she'd placed faith where faith didn't belong. Her eyes shifted to Shino's and she could immediately tell her was on edge. He'd physically stepped back from her side, and his stare, even masked behind glasses, was cold.

"Really? You began to trust him of all people? You trust the man who took you from your home for his own selfish desires?" Shino looked around for something to hit, something he might take his sudden ire out on, but the surroundings were sparce. Another thing he hated about Suna. He felt rage pooling in his fingers that dug holes in his palms, and he was twitching with readiness to punch away his anger. But he wasn't able to—with one swift movement, Sakura was hugging him, running her hands thought his hair in a soothing motion.

"Don't be angry, Shino. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to sort things out with you before I left Konoha. But I can tell you now that I missed you most of all, and I really just need you to stop talking and tell me that things are going to go back to normal." She felt slightly foolish for being so clingy to him, but everyone needed reassurance through physical contact sometimes. Even the stoic, unsociable Gaara. And this was a time. Such emotional confusion had wrecked her brain for the next month o two at least, and a big part of her was ready for her old life to return.

Shino was well aware of the desperation in her voice, not to mention the fact that while it wasn't the 'I love you

He was hoping for, it was good enough for him. He wrapped his arms around her figure once more, feeling the calming effect that she had on him soak though every bone in his body. He reveled in the warmth of her cradled form against his. And he wondered why he was brought together with this woman in the first place when everyone was doing everything to keep them apart. But she felt like home to him. The smell of her crept up to his nose, and he dug deeper into her hair and inhaled her scent as if he might never experience it again.

The scent of a woman is a very prominent, sweet smell: gentle and delicate when she's happy, sharp and tangy when she's angry, salty when she's sad. Gaara had never seen the appeal until he routinely fell asleep to the aroma of Sakura in the air. So he had been looking forward to returning to his bedroom and burying his nose in her warm neck, all the while unaware that Shino was going that exact thing that moment.

All he wanted was to go back to sleep. The "Konoha visitors" could wait until the morning when he had a clear head, but until then he intended to seek the kunoichi's warmth. The Kazekage chuckled to himself. More than once in their arguments, Sakura had accused him of using her as a living teddy bear, and it wasn't until that moment that he actually agreed with her. The jovial mood didn't really last though. Before the knob even turned in his hand, he could tell Sakura was no longer in the room. His blood slowed, and his eyes closed to try to fight the scenario in his head that she might have found out that two nins had arrived. He began to trace what little ki was left from her departure to find her trail.

Gaara stalked slowly to the bed, running his fingertips over the cover, still slightly warm from her body. He drew in a slow, heavy breath as he walked over toward the window. He was a well-trained nin with the power of a demon within, and she couldn't possibly be so naïve to think jumping out of a window would be impressive or evading. His mind followed her trail out the window, calculating where she went, where he would go next on his hunt.

And that's what it was. This entire situation with the woman wasn't anything but a long, drawn-out chase. Sometimes she would pause to give him hope of permanently catching her only to turn and run the moment he became comfortable with his pace. Gaara climbed upon the window sill, becoming the fearful ninja he was known as. His legs became like his hands, gripping on the rock edge of the building. With eyes closed and sniffing the air, he immediately jumped from the side of the administration building and flew to the next roof over. And he knew exactly where she'd gone.

How she found out that the two had arrived was beyond him. As he sped down the path she had taken less than a half-hour before, he mused that perhaps he had left her to her own devices for too long. Perhaps she found a way to contact Konoha without his knowing and set this entire meeting up.

And if that were the case, Gaara knew that his little kunoichi had been playing him for a fool. Obviously she has the same idea he had: make them fall in love with you, and they'll be putty in your hands. But she wasn't about to convince him to let her go. He approached the inn, quicker than he'd ever traveled, but something made him pause for a moment. If she had known they were coming to Konoha, why of all nights would she go out of her way to corner him and welcome him back into their bed?

It made no sense. Gaara had to admit that she had the power to confuse him like no one else, whether he was ready to admit it or not.

He jumped to the roof of the last building before the inn's entrance, but he stopped shot at the edge to gaze over the scene before him. Sakura was engulfed in a very intimate hug with the man that had been a thorn in his side even since the night they'd almost slept together. And just like that night—and it made his blood boil to think of it—she didn't seem to mind the physical attention. Where before she'd welcomed Gaara into the warmth of her embrace, the curve of her neck, and the soft cushion of her lips, Shino now roamed over her body like he belonged there.

Gaara felt something in his chest tighten, and he cursed Sakura for bringing out these feelings of lust and jealously where he'd once been stone-cold. He may never have the courage to tell her that her devious plan may have worked all too well, but was it such a bad thing that it did?

However, he wouldn't take pity on her and grant her wish by sending her home. No matter how much she begged. If she'd taken so much action to make him fall in love with her, then she was just going to have to remain in Suna to reap the benefits.

…

Sakura pulled away from Shino and immediately felt _his _presence. At first, she wasn't going to turn to face him and have to deal with the oncoming emotional battering. But she figured that she better confront him about her letters lest she loose her nerve. It wasn't like he was going to kill her or anything. She was obviously way too important to him.

The pinkette found herself locking eyes with Gaara momentarily before he shifted them toward the man behind her. And for a long while, the two of them stood placid without so much as a flinch or the pulse of a beating heart below skin.

Sakura thought the whole situation was just a bit cliché, but then again this wasn't her ideal position in the whole universe. Having two men fight over you was such a romantic notion to some women, but when it actually happened, it was frustrating. For one, you were never in a good position to make decisions for yourself. That was easily done for you and without your permission. And two, whether or not you picked one of the men, they were still going to fight as if the winner had "first dibbs."

"As leader of this country, I do not appreciate the intrusion onto my lands without notification," Gaara said as he made the final leap to the trio below. He found it odd that they'd congregated outside of the inn, though it made finding them a little easier.

"We set out intending to arrive by morning," Naruto stepped up. "But we were a little anxious about the trip and getting to see Sakura that we made better time than we thought."

Gaara didn't give him any indication that he was paying attention. Why bother to listen when all of them were quite aware they were unwelcomed no matter the time of day.

"Were you even going to tell me they were here?" Sakura demanded as she approached him. She stood a few inches from his body, staring at his face and willing him to look her in the eye without guilt of all the things he'd done to her life in such a short time.

But the Kazekage refused, unblinking and facing forward. His willpower alone was enough to keep him from the face of the young girl in front of him.

_What does she know about life? She doesn't have that killing instinct—that force that drives someone to do everything in their power for all that they want_. For the moment, he was comforted by his thoughts, but the urge to look her in the eye and ask about her own deceit was quite appealing.

"I wouldn't have," Gaara said, but he was looking at Shino as he said it. It was only when he took a long breath for his next statement that he turned to her. "Had they not demanded to see you as part of the agreement we had, I wouldn't have let them see you.

Sakura was speechless. She didn't expect such a blatant answer from him because a small part of her was hoping he wouldn't be the man she'd always assumed he was. But beyond her rage, she could see something change for a moment in the kage's eyes, even though she decided to ignore it for the moment. In this instant, the man in front of her was once again her captor, the one who'd drug her away from her Konoha family, from the life she had, and from the life she could have had, to this desolate land that was so different from her own.

"I'm going to ask you this once and only once. Did my messages home ever make it to Konoha?" She would have elaborated, but Sakura had a feeling that he knew all too well what she was referring to.

"No."

Sakura blanched, but Gaara failed to see why. He'd always been an upfront man when it came to questions, and there wasn't much of a reason to change that now.

Her heart fell. Hearing him affirm her suspicions made it all too real. What she thought had been developing between them had obviously been nothing but a lie. She turned delicately to Shino with a clenching in her chest that was painful and inexplicable.

"Take me home now, please." It wasn't much more than a whisper, but it was just loud enough that the keen ears of the nins around her were very aware of what she was asking.

"You can't leave."

And there it was again: that something in Gaara's tone that she chose to ignore. Only with a difference emotion plainly painted over his usual stoic face, this time it was a lot harder to disregard.

"That's where you're wrong, Lord Kazekage," she said coolly. "I can and most definitely will be leaving. Now."

"The agreement." His hard tone was back. That stone-faced outer shell of his fell too easily in place.

"An agreement that you violated by cutting off communication with our ambassador. So per the severance of the truce between our people, we are taking our ninja back with us as she is now trespassing on your lands."

"I'd like to see you try to take her back," Gaara growled as he jumped toward Shino with chakra focused in his fist.

Sakura, being the only barrier between the two, was easily pushed to the side and landed on her knee. Shino barely spared her a look as he jumped to dodge Gaara's attack.

"Like I would have hit her, bastard," Gaara snarled. He managed to land a punch on the bug man and dodge a return blow easily with the help of his sand.

Sakura stared at the two men, especially Gaara. His voice had been positively gruff and very unlike the smooth, political tone of the man who'd kidnapped her. "Stop, you two. This is ridiculous!" She yelled, but they either didn't hear her or decided to ignore her command. Either way, the two were starting to unleash their powers in a way that had no business outside in a public place. "You don't need to fight like this. It's ridiculous!"

"I believe she told you to stop!" Another voice sounded, and it echoed within the valley the buildings around them created. A tunnel of wind barreled between the two opponents. It was weak, and Gaara and Shino easily jumped out of its path. When the dust settled and things quested down, Temari looked at her brother and Shino with intense eyes. While it was a small victory to stop the fight before it actually got going, the fact that she had to split them up was enough to prove that the two were acting immature.

"You represent two countries that are at peace, and this type of behavior shouldn't be so openly displayed for out citizens to witness."

"Doesn't matter now. Your precious leader has voided our contract. So that means I can do whatever I want now," Shino said. He'd begun to retract his bugs, but the tense set of his posture made it obvious that he was still on guard.

"Yes, it does. Remember, you are a Konoha nin on Suna soil, and you must refrain from hostility—especially now that you claim the truce has been broken."

"It _is_ broken." Shino glared.

"It doesn't have to be." Naruto, who until this moment had been watching the whole fight with a thinly-veiled interest, finally piped up. "I don't know the whole story, but I realize that your intention with this pact had something to do with Sakura coming here. But even though you've made an error in judgment, it doesn't mean that the entire alliance must suffer."

Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow. "I'm listening."

"We make a deal. We act as if you never violated the agreement and say that Sakura's messages weren't sent correctly or that she was just too busy—" A glare from the kunoichi shut him up. "And everything still stands as it has for the past three months. But we take Sakura home now."

Gaara didn't even pause. "Unacceptable."

Behind his glasses, Shino's eyes closed to slits, and he knew that kage was aware of his glare. "You don't get to make that call. Either way, she's coming home with us. The only difference is whether you look like an ass to both your people and ours."

Within seconds, Gaara crossed the distance between them again and would have continued their row from earlier had Temari not stepped in.

"Please, we can't be causing too much trouble in view of the public. Look, I know you're not happy about losing the ambassador, but we can't deny that this is the best out where both sides still win. If not, then we return to the way things were before, only this time you're going to be even more frustrated with Konoha."

He knew that she was right. But inside, Gaara couldn't accept that he'd lost, that he'd made a stupid, immature mistake that was costing him someone he… Well, he couldn't quite put a label on the way he felt for his prisoner. But she was certainly important, nonetheless.

"Fine," he said, just loud enough for Temari to hear.

She turned to the leaf trio and sighed. "We agree with your terms. But we request that you wait until morning to leave."

Naruto began to nod in acceptance, but she continued.

"And Sakura has to spend this last night in the administration building as she has the past three months." Everyone, Gaara especially, was surprised at her added stipulation.

_Spend this last night with Gaara_, Sakura finished for her.

"You're out of line even suggesting that we'd let—"

"Fine." Sakura was slightly annoyed at the fact that no one had even asked her opinion this whole conversation, so she'd decided to speed things up a bit. It'd be nice to be back in Konoha, but she figured she would give Gaara one last sleep—especially considering he'd been deprived for the past month.

"What?"

"Shino, it's alright. I'm ready to go back home. I'm ready for this night to be over with. And if conceding this one last request will get us out of the out of the street and into bed, then I'm going for it.

"Yeah, it'll get you into bed alright—into his. Why are you doing this?"

"You're just going to have to trust me, Shino. I'll meet you both at the gates at sunrise."

And with that she turned so she'd miss the betrayed look on his face. She knew Shino wouldn't understand her decision. Actually she wasn't really sure why she'd jumped at the chance. Really, she didn't owe Gaara anything. He was the one who avoided her for a month when he could have been next to her in bed and sharing his warmth while they had time left.

_And where did that come from?_ She wasn't going to deny that she missed his body next to hers in the night. She probably felt that, generally, another person sleeping next to you was better than none at all… She'd probably feel the same way with Shino.

But as she walked back with the silent Kazekage and his tired sister, she felt ashamed at her last thought.

…

Fortunately for Gaara, the night was still young once they reached the admin building. The night sky was deep and dark—similar to his mood—which made him all the more ready to go back to his bed with the woman and hope that the night of sweet sleep would last forever.

When the two reached his door, with Temari having left them alone two floors ago, the silence was more than Sakura could take, but she wasn't about to be the first one to say something. She felt shy, almost like a school-girl on her first date again, because this wasn't exactly a comfortable situation. There had been nights when they'd walked together back to the room (one or two maybe) but in this case, she'd had a pretty enlightening night. And she couldn't decide if she was absolutely furious at the kage or sad to be leaving.

He opened the door ahead of her; eager to get to bed, she assumed. But once she'd stepped quietly over the threshold, he turned and pushed her up against the door.

"Why?" he asked quickly.

Confused, she just stared in silence. Did he mean, _why are you leaving? Why have you ruined my life?_ It could be a number of things. But she wasn't about to start answering the wrong questions. That might open a can of worms that she wasn't at all ready to investigate.

"Why did you make me start to feel things for you if you were just going to leave?"

Sheesh, that was worse. But Sakura was surprised by the vulnerable question. The Kazekage of Suna was practically admitting that he felt something for her. And she found a little bit of comfort in that.

"I was always going to leave, Gaara."

He sighed and looked at her feet in exasperation. Was she going to make him spell this out for her? "You know what I'm asking. Don't make me repeat it. You purposefully made advances to what? Make me feel sorry for you? As in "if you love her let her go"?"

She wasn't really sure how to respond to his question except with the same frustrated blush as earlier. He'd certainly called her out. "I guess at first that was sort of the plan."

"I knew it." Gaara released her shoulders and turned away from her, unshouldering the gourd by the desk and taking his place on top.

"Well, yeah. I wanted to leave, but you have to believe me when I say that things here became bearable after a while."

"Thanks," he said without looking at her. His eyes were glued to the still-open window by the bed—the bed that he'd probably never sleep in again. "Because bearable was what I was going for."

"You didn't let me finish." She walked over to the desk and lightly touched his cheek to make him face her, no longer afraid that his sand might defend him from the human touch that he so desperately craved. "After a little while, I guess I stopped acting."

Their eyes met finally, and for the first time Gaara became familiar with the human emotion tattooed on his forehead. Her gentle touch on his skin ignited some kind of rage at the thought of losing access to her when she was like this. Her sweet side especially came out in the most intimate of moments, and he'd had the pleasure of being on the receiving end multiple times as of late. It would be weird doing without that again.

Sakura didn't say anything more. She was fairly sure that she'd revealed a little too much. So her hand slid gently into his and tugged. The message was obvious. _Come with me_, she was telling him.

It was with reluctance, but he followed.

At the edge of the bed, she turned to him. "Is it possible that you might have done the same thing I did to try to get me to stay?"

Gaara looked down at her from the corner of his eye. He never realized until then how much he towered over her. He practically had to leer down at her small form to meet her gaze, but she moved her head easily in front of him so he couldn't easily dodge her.

"I don't appreciate the way you brought me here, but I know there was no way I was going with you willingly. So, I want you to understand that I don't really feel like I belong here. I don't feel at home… but," and she reached up to turn his head toward her for the second time that night, "I want you to know that it had more to do with me than you."

She lifted her head, cupping his jaw line with her palm and bringing him toward her in the process and gently touched her lips to his. He responded quickly but just as timid as she was. Sakura wanted this last kiss—she needed one more chance to remind herself what she was leaving behind now that she had an out to return to Konoha. He'd tricked her. She'd tricked him. But there was a sort of truth to each of their lies just as there was a distinct honestly in the way he kissed her back.

It was the night they'd kissed one month ago all over again. He pinned her in place with his arms, tightening them around her in case she decided to pull away. She ran her arms up his chest, folding them into his shagged hair. The feeling of her fingers digging into his scalp as she tried to press herself into him further tingled to the touch, and he leaned in at first.

But the image of her hanging into Shino in the same way she now held onto him passed through his mind, and he pulled away. "I'm not going to play games with you any more. You're leaving in the morning, so I'm going to enjoy my last night's rest."

Sakura watched him slide into bed, disappointed. After a moment of pause, _what the heck just happened?_, she moved into the bed with his as if it was the most casual thing in the world. But there was a certain tense feeling within him, and she knew that it was her leaving that stimulated these mixed feelings in both of them. She sighed and turned, for the moment, away from him to stare at the window. The way he broke their kiss—she just knew that it was about Shino. Gaara had shown up when she was hugging the bug nin, and the idea of what he must have thought at the moment plagued and unsettled her stomach. Perhaps that was why he asked her that question so directly.

_Why did you make me start to feel things for you if you were just going to leave?_

On one hand, it was accusatory. As if she didn't have the right to leave now that he had feelings for her. On the other hand it made her sound cruel, and Sakura wasn't a fan of that implication either. She hadn't done anything she did with the intent to make him suffer. She's done it all to help herself, and those were two very different things.

"I didn't want to hurt you," she said softly. "In fact, I had sort of gotten used to the idea of another three months with you. But I have to go back sometime, you know." She sighed when he remained silent behind her. "You can't expect me to just leave my life in Konoha to come here. It's not that simple. I have missions to do. I'm a medic nin, out to help people. I have to be able to get out there and work. What, would I have to become a Suna nin? Because that would just be weird. Then I'd no longer be a Leaf. I'd feel like I was betraying my identity, and I refuse to ever do that. And if we ever got the chance to be together, I'd be the one to have to change because I'm a simple underling while you're the kage of an entire country." Still no response. "Gaara?"

She quickly turned to see if he was even listening but was met with the gentle face of a sleeping man. The hard edges in his brow had softened, making him a lot less menacing than before. Her eyebrow twitched. All that said and he hadn't even heard a peep. _Maybe that's a good thing. He might have taken it a bit too seriously_.

She scooted inward and laid her head to his chest before allowing herself to forget about the coming day and drift to the sleep Gaara had obviously already succumbed to. She was happy to be done with Sun and to be escaping a Kazekage that kidnapped her and cut off her only communication with her old life and the people she loved. But there was something in her chest that tightened at the thought of leaving behind _this man_ who trusted her more than anyone else. Even though he had an odd way of showing it.

Gaara felt her snuggle unto his chest and the sensation of her steady breath on his neck before he broke his steady breathing rhythm and allowed himself a deep sigh. It hadn't been physically difficult to pretend he was sleeping, but emotionally… Well, suffice to say that he was satisfied she'd given so much thought to the idea of staying in Suna permanently. Of course, there would be changes that he'd have to make, but the very words spoken from her mouth implied that even she'd considered the notion of her becoming one of his ninjas. Becoming his.

…

End Chapter 13

TYK: Long overdue, but what can I say? I'm not too happy how this chapter turned out. I feel like I didn't put enough time into it. But it's difficult to get time to write having a little one to take care of… a little one who's mobile now... So forgive any minor errors, please! But thought I'd give Shino some screen time, so to speak, with the leading lady. There will be a little more of their emotional dealings, but would this really be a Gaa/Saku fic if our stoic prince didn't capture her heart? Yep, didn't think so. I have about five more pages written, but I thought this was a good place to end the chapter. R&R!


	14. Departure

TYK: I know what you're thinking: this many updates in such a small time span? Yep, I'm that invested. In fact, I write everything by hand while I'm at work or in bed before typing it up, and lately I've written about fifty pages worth of this fic that just needs to be typed. So I'm editing as I go. Forgive small syntax errors and the such. And I'm deciding where to cut off the chapters as I'm going. And here it is; the next installment is upon us! Read and review please! Like any writer on here, I am fueled by response! I want to know that people are still as invested in this story as I am!

…

By morning, Gaara was fully rested, but you wouldn't be able to tell by his mood. Just like an old married couple, Sakura had roused him up by throwing back the covers and shouting, "We're late!" into his ear. He'd blinked a few times before it dawned on him that it was morning, but Sakura, again, didn't let him idle for long.

"Didn't you hear me? Get up! We have to go! The last thing I need is for Shino and Naruto to come looking for me here…" She paused to grab her discarded bag from beside the dresser. "And I didn't even think to pack anything last night!"

Most of her rhetorical attempts at conversation were lost on Gaara as he looked out the still open window to the very tip of the Suna gates. He could imagine Uzumaki waiting and the dark one pacing with anxiety over the woman's tardiness. He looked at Sakura who was bustling around the rooms trying to grab everything she brought with her. Eyes scanning over her body, he visually measured the warmth that emanated from her curves. And suddenly he regretted pushing away her attempt at physical contact the night before. He could have enjoyed far more than a full night's rest, but that blasted Shino had to come into his mind and remind Gaara of their lingering hug. _But she hadn't kissed Shino_, he added. She hadn't pressed herself to him the way she had to Gaara. And it was with this motivation that he rose from the bed and strode over to the kunoichi. She stood by the desk using its surface to gather her things. But he flipped her to face him and crashed his lips to hers.

Sakura didn't react for a moment, which gave him time to sweep an arm across the surface behind her. If either of them heard the items tumble to the floor, they didn't react. Sakura grasped onto the sides of his face, and Gaara snaked his hands to cup her round thighs before lifting her on top of the desk and settling in between her legs.

_This feels right_.

It was a brief thought that was interrupted by hands coming up the waist and down the chest, and in the midst of it all, her shirt became undone. For the second time, Gaara saw a glimpse of her beautiful chest, bared even more by the wrappings beneath that had come loose. One tug and he could…

"Gaara? We were supposed to meet at the gates almost twenty minutes ago." Temari's voice and her gentle knocks floated right to their ears and sent the wrong kind of chill down each spine.

The kage fumed with rage but hadn't responded yet, so the pinkette found a voice in his place.

"We'll be a minute! I just forgot to pack!"

Both of them traced the blonde's footsteps as they silently receded from the door, but the damage had been done. Neither one of them wanted to move from their current predicament. Removing their hands from each other would make them admit something had been going on. Something had been about to happen had Temari not interrupted.

She couldn't even look him in the eyes as she fixed her shirt and simply leaned over to threw everything into her bag—not caring if she forgot something—and headed for the door.

So you can understand why Gaara was in such a foul mood. He barely caught up to the kunoichi in her haste to retreat to the two Konoha nins.

"You will return," he said evenly once he was beside her.

Sakura glared at him from the corner of her eyes but otherwise pretended that his comment was lost on the wind whipping past her face. Before she could enter the open area surrounding Suna's entrance, Gaara jumped in front of her and stopped her in her tracks. Sakura's bags fell to the ground.

"I'll even bet that you won't get the same satisfaction out of Shino after you return to Konoha."

"What is your problem? I'm leaving, and the only thing you're doing with your little cocky attitude here is making my decision to stay in Konoha even more concrete." She sighed in barely contained frustration. "Damn, Gaara, you think you just know everything. But you're wrong. There's no way I can stay here with you."

"But you want to."

"I don't know anymore!" Sakura picked up her things and walked the rest of the distance toward her comrades.

"Well, we were beginning to get worried!" Naruto shouted. "Shino here was about to storm the castle."

"Well, I'm here now, so let's hurry up and leave."

At her words, Gaara began to step forward to her side.

Shino stepped between Sakura and Gaara immediately and added, "Our agreement stands. You won't stop her from leaving. The Hokage will be in touch."

The Kazekage's clear, green eyes met hers. There it was again: a look at the man who didn't want her to go. The man that trusted and valued her.

_Why did you make it impossible for me to not fall for you, Gaara, when we could never truly be together_?

"Gaara, I…" She really couldn't think of an exit line. The last month hadn't really been a pleasure. And she couldn't say that she would plan to return to Suna, but she felt like she had to say something. The last words between them couldn't be _I don't know anymore_. It was too prosaic. "Thanks."

She turned to walk out with Naruto and Shino on either side of her. And Gaara knitted his brows together in confusion and alarm.

What the hell did she mean by that?

…

The entire way home, Sakura contemplated what she'd meant by the "thanks" she'd blurted out at the last moment. Why that of all things? It seemed like the best goodbye she could muster beyond actually saying goodbye. But there had to be something she was thankful for after three months in Suna… She was certainly thankful for heading home. But Gaara would have prevented that had he the power. She might have been thankful for his hospitality during her stay with him. Nope, not when he forced the whole experience upon her in the first place. She could have said thanks for his exhilarating company, but let's face it, that wasn't exactly his strong point in the past three months. It's not generally the best sign when most of your relationship happens in the bedroom.

And she wasn't even going to explore that part of her mission. Sakura didn't think that bedding—literally—the Kazekage was in the fine print of the contract, whether sleep or something else was involved. In fact, she was more confused than ever on that front. And now the familiar feeling of being with Shino, feeling his eyes watch over her, was coming back even though somehow she sensed it was different.

His company didn't seem as intense as she'd gotten used to, whereas the thought of Gaara was enough to get her hot and bothered with a tense feeling in her lower half. Again, not a topic to indulge when they were making a non-stop trip back home.

Shino led the group, keeping close tabs on the woman next to him. She had been quiet since they left, but he supposed she had a lot to think about. Not to mention that even after he poured his heart out to her in his letter, things were still quite unresolved. He was with Sakura on that front. That was a topic better left for the confines of his rooms at a later date.

Behind his glasses, Shino closed his eyes for a moment, trusting his sense to help dodge trees as they had left the sand behind and now ventured into more lush territory. The sound of droplets of water falling into the bathtub and rolling gracefully down her curves invaded his senses. It was the last night she'd been with him before the Kazekage had stolen her away, when she was trying to melt away the stress in her body with a long, warm bath. To his everlasting shame as the gentleman he'd always considered himself to be, he'd looked. It had been only for a moment, and blissfully he'd turned his head to the bathroom door, wide open, just as she was coming up for air. Head tilted, eyes locked closed, the curve of her neck became a slope for the luckiest drops of water he'd ever seen. His sunglasses slid down his nose, and the dark depths behind them followed the wet trails to her chest.

For a moment, she was his. Bared fully, wet and vulnerable, he then settled with himself that she was the woman for him. She was the woman overlooked by the village for her younger narcissistic self. He was going to fully commit to her someday with hope that she would do the same. So until that day came, he would have the vision of her lovely form burned into his mind—until her eyes opened, that is, and his face turned quickly away. He thanked whatever deity was up there that she couldn't see the burning cheeks his sunglasses rested on.

Looking over at her now, he noticed that she wasn't quite the same woman as that time in the bathroom. There was an element of fear that was missing, thankfully. And he couldn't help but see how the confidence in each step, each leap that brought them closer to their home.

_You made the right decision, Sakura_, she kept telling herself like a motivational mantra. _This is where you belong_. She glanced over at Shino, who'd been doing to same to her ever since their departure. The fact that she'd become so intimate with Gaara during her stay was enough to make her guilty of leading Shino on. Of course, if her letter had reached him in the first place, it would have made her current situation even worse. Now that she hadn't given him an answer either way, she could start her life in Konoha over and get back into the swing of things. And after a little while, it might be easier for her to decide.

In the end, she mused, it might not be either of the two men. But it was hard to imagine meeting someone else that was able to strike up the kind of passion she'd experienced in the last couple months. When they finally arrived to the gates of Konoha, after travelling non-stop the entire trip, the late sun of the new morning sparkled over them. She sighed. It felt great to be home after such an arduous, couple days' travel. She didn't know how it took Gaara so little time to get to Konoha when he was visiting her at night, but perhaps he'd cut illegally through the bordering villages in his haste.

With that thought, her stomach began to churn. Would those nightly visits continue now that she was back? Would she really be able to go back to her former life as everyone expected her to? After passing through the village gates, the three of them in prefect sync made way to the Hokage's office.

"Sakura," Tsunade calmly said as the trio entered the room, but inside she was both overjoyed and unnerved to see her protégé intact and unharmed and right there at her door.

"Due to a breech of contract, we were able to take Sakura home with us early."

The Hokage looked at Naruto sternly. "What do you mean breech? We worked hard to finalize our agreement with Sand—don't tell me that has all been for naught?"

"Actually, we made a deal with that bastard kage that the peace would remain if he released her back into Leaf custody. He made the right decision, obviously," Shino answered for him.

"And what gave you two the right to make changes to the country's political agreements?"

"C'mon, you hag, you wanted her home as bad as we did."

"Irrelevant, Uzumaki!" she slammed her hand on the desk to shut him up quickly. "What if he'd denied you this new arrangement? He rightfully could have as you are not Konoha officials with that kind of power."

_He could have said no_? Sakura stiffened. _So he didn't have to let me leave after all_?

"But he wouldn't have. He has too much to lose." Shino looked at Sakura as he said this.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tsunade asked.

"Nothing," Sakura finally said. "The Kazekage is a good leader, and I'm sure he was thinking of the two countries when he agreed to let me go." The pinkette knew it was quite the lie, but it might pass as the truth long enough for her to get out of that office.

"Yeah, right," Shino said and scoffed. He turned completely to Sakura. "This whole situation has been about you. You hated the man and the idea of being carted off to another village, yet now you're covering for him? He was the one who took you from us, and that fact used to bother you."

"Shino…" And she couldn't think of an excuse to give him. He was right. She had vowed to hate Gaara the entire trip, but now, being back in Konoha and in the Hokage's office, she definitely noticed the absence of his overbearing aura standing over her shoulder. For the past almost four months he'd kept a watchful eye out for her. And now she felt a little too free without the weight of her obligation on her shoulders.

"Aburame, Uzumaki, you're both excused."

The bug nin glared at her, rooted to his spot. There was no way he was going to miss this conversation.

"I'm not going to tell you again, and you'd best heed this warning, Shino, because it's the only one you're going to get."

On second thought, he'd be better off asking Sakura directly later on. If the look on Tsunade's face was any indication, she wasn't in a bargaining mood, and he'd known nins who'd crossed her before that would have been ANBU had they kept their mouths shut.

He glanced at Sakura as he left. One moment his gaze was soft, happy, much like the times they spent together before she left. But the next it said, _this is not over_. And he walked out the door.

Tsunade crossed the room and slammed it behind him. Whether it was necessary or for added effect, the pinkette wasn't sure, but it made her cower in her seat a little more.

The blonde took her place behind the desk before blowing her cool. "What the hell has been going on, Sakura? I want the whole truth about this stay in Suna, no exceptions."

"It's kind of a long story."

"What about my question didn't you understand? First off, and certainly most important, why were you sleeping in the Kazekage's room? Is there something going on between you now because before your departure you seemed to loathe the very thought of the man almost as much as the idea of the ambassadorship."

"How did you know about that?"

"Naruto, okay! He went, without my knowing, to check on you. We were all worried that you weren't in communication. And when he found you he said you were in Gaara's room. With him."

"It wasn't my fault. Gaara was the one who stopped my outgoing letters. I don't know why he did it, but Shino and Naruto used that fact as leverage and threatened to break the agreement if they didn't let me return home." She could see the tension grow behind the eyes of the woman across the desk. She obviously hadn't forgotten about asking for the full story. "Fine," Sakura conceded. And for the next half hours, Sakura described the past months' events barring a few of the more erotic situations she'd found herself in. By the end of Sakura's tirade, Tsunade was certainly surprised. Her young protégé had changed the game plan since the last time she saw her. The Hokage frowned slightly.

"Sakura, I'm not sure getting this serious with the Kazekage is a very good idea."

"Me neither! Which is why I'm not going to get serious with him. My ties with Suna—and Gaara—were broken last night, er, this morning when we left." Even saying the fact out loud made her feel a little better and more confident that she could forget about the whole Gaara situation. "It's not like he and I could ever be together anyway. It's just too complicated."

Tsunade closed her eyes and said, "See that's what I'm talking about."

"What?"

"The fact that you've even considered being together with Gaara would be complicated is unsettling. Konoha can't afford to lose you. You're just too valuable a medic, and I'm going to forget about the whole sleeping situation and make myself believe that Gaara values you for the same reason."

"But Tsunade…"

"You're dismissed."

"Just hear me out. It's not like I'm in love with the guy. I just—"

"I said you're dismissed. I don't really want to hear it right now. Just try to return to life as if Gaara had never stepped foot in your apartment."

Sakura paused for a moment but eventually stood to leave. _So much for the cheery welcome home_.

"And Sakura," Tsunade added. "How do you think all this had affected Shino, I wonder?"

The question was obviously rhetorical, and Sakura had no qualms about not being expected to answer it. She left the office and began the walk toward her apartment. The way Tsunade had cut her off hurt. This situation with Gaara was complicated, and the Hokage needed to understand that she couldn't just brush the whole experience off. She'd just spent three months of her life in another village with a man that was after her—even if it was only her body or ability to get him to sleep—and that was long enough to create some feelings between them. And it wasn't as if she was a different person or would perform her duties worse because of it.

But what she'd said about Shino…

The kunoichi didn't understand what business it was of the Hokage's to butt in on her love life. _Leave Gaara, be with Shino, what does she think she's trying to do_?

Once she'd walked through the door to her apartment, the whole place felt empty. Dusty, unlived, the sun wasn't even shining through the south-facing windows enough to brighten the place up.

And there was nothing to do.

She'd spent the past months training in Suna, so that was off the table. The remote was laying on the couch, books on her shelf, and everything seemed to beckon her to spend her free time doing something she enjoyed. But everything was unappealing, as if nothing was going to keep her attention for very long. Going to the Ichiraku was out of the question as well. She was going to enjoy the first actual alone time she'd had since Gaara started coming into her room at night, and she wasn't about to start fielding questions about her trip just yet.

Sakura merely curled up on her couch, enjoying the little things she'd missed. The smell of the soft fabric of her own upholstery, the scratchy sensation of her favorite throw pulled over her. And she dozed off. The morning light turned into midday sun, and by the time she'd heard the knock on her front door, the pinkette felt genuinely rested and a little easier about her sudden return home.

But for a moment, she just stared at the door from her position on the couch, hoping it wasn't Shino on the other side. Another knock, light but patient, sounded, and she figured if it were Shino he wouldn't have hesitated to just walk in.

"About time you answered. Took about all I had not to just bust down the door."

"What about you doing here, Naruto?"

"I came to check on you," he said. His arms settled behind his head as he walked right passed her into her home. "You've been away so long. You seemed to have changed a little while you were in Suna."

Sakura shrugged for a reply and sat back down on the couch.

"Not thinking of killing me for taking you away from there, are you?"

This time she was quick to reply. "And why the hell would you say that?"

"Jeez, I was just kidding. You seemed just as anxious to come home as we were to take you back."

"I did?"

"You weren't starting to like it there were you? I mean, it's so hot…"

"Well, to tell you the truth, I think I might have been."

"But Sakura," he whined in his usual voice. "We missed you here!"

She almost smiled at his old antics. Sure, he was playing melancholy now, but she had a good glimpse of his mature side during the dealings with Temari and Gaara the night before. It would come of use to him if he was planning on succeeding the current Hokage someday.

"Sakura, level with me. What all was gong on with you and Gaara? Because I know you were staying with him in his room."

"Yeah, Tsunade told me you made an impromptu trip out there. But… I don't really want to go into that right now. I think what really went on between Gaara and me needs to stay that way."

"Don't kiss and tell, eh? Well, you know I'm friends with the guy, but I'm not above defending you if he was to have done… er, forced you to do things… you know?" he trailed off as if the blush on his face was inhibiting his ability to speak.

"Eww, Naruto, maybe you should just stop right there. But suffice to say that was never the case."

The blond looked relieved.

"Now, if you wouldn't mind, I'm just going to catch up on… unpacking." She blurted out the first thing that might save her from any more conversation at the moment.

"Oh, no you don't. I know you were just planning on shutting yourself in here, but I've come to steal you away. Everyone is gathered at the Ichiraku to welcome you back, and I'm not going to let you miss your own party!"

"Naruto! I'm not in the mood to—"

"Nope, not buying it…"

She had to admit, he was stronger that he looked, especially when he was dragging her by her shirt out of her apartment.

…

The night had been good, even Sakura had to admit. She met the people she'd left behind and easily swung back into their normal routines. Maybe there was hope of returning to life after Suna. No one else seemed to notice the change in her that Naruto had pointed out earlier. The hard part of the evening was, of course, dodging questions about her stay in a village so different from their own, but Naruto was quick to come to her defense and change the subject for her.

Shino even attended and stayed by her side as expected by most of the Leaf nins. Sakura found it odd hat he seemed at ease when they hadn't even talked about things yet. But she excused herself very quietly after a couple hours and managed to make it home sober in one piece, wondering why the bug nin never bothered to bring up their would-be romance while he had the chance.

And that's how the next week went. She maintained her usual duties in the hospital and with the Hokage (though the subject of Suna and Gaara was forbidden unless on a strict professional level), and Shino even joined her for lunch and sometimes dinner. She felt the familiar flutters of something rekindled bubble up into her stomach as he walked her home or their eyes locked through his glasses. Sakura was quite surprised that it took him until her fifth day home to bring anything up about them.

"Sakura, I want to know what this is. What are we? Because it seems like we're getting back to where we were, and I hope that you feel that way, too.

"I'm not sure."

"How can you not be? We spend time together, we act like a couple, but we're still missing that last step of becoming official. Everyone already thinks we're dating as it is."

Sakura remained silent and stared at the bright surroundings around her. She still felt something for Shino, and those butterflies in her were a sure sign of that. But then there was Gaara. And that was the problem with Shino and her. She would easily jump at the chance if it were the Kazekage next to her asking the same thing. _But_, she reminded herself, _he's not. And he won't be because the relationship would never be able to function. My best chance it just to become happy here_.

And what was the harm in giving Shino a for-sure chance at that same happiness. She could easily become as hot and bothered for him as she did with Gaara.

"Okay."

"Really?" He paused at her doorstep.

"Yeah, but let's kind of take it slow."

"So, he's still in your head, isn't he?" Shino's voice turned slightly dark at the thought that he was still competing with the kage even after she'd returned home to Konoha.

"A little."

He was surprised at her honesty, but let it roll off of him. "But you know that would never happen. I mean, why would you even want it to? He stole you away. He kidnapped you. You shouldn't think you have feelings for the guy just because he was your captor for a few months. You're free now."

"I know. It's probably best if I try and forget about him now that I'm home."

"I really hope so," he said. Ever so slowly, Shino reached up to cup her shoulder, turning her fully to him and placing a short kiss on her lips. Carefully, he pulled away to look her in the eyes. He wanted to ask her a million things. _Was that okay? Did she feel the little spark as well? Had it brought back the night they'd stumbled into bed after the bar_?

But asking her anything of the sort would be too much pressure after the conversation they'd just had. It was better, and more definite, to just seal the deal with a kiss and be happy about it. "I'll see you later," he simply stated and began to walk away without any expectations.

Sakura just stood on her stoop for a moment thinking not about the kiss that just occurred but the one she'd initiated the last night she was in Suna and the one Gaara initiated that next morning. She blushed and turned to unlock her door. It wasn't as if she'd betrayed Gaara or anything. They'd certainly parted without any kind of understanding, though he seemed to have it in his mind that she would return. As if she'd just be lost without his presence.

And to say the least, she was certainly put off by the lack of constant watch. But that wasn't exactly a feeling she was itching to get back.

But Shino's kiss, while it was smooth and soft and everything she would have wanted in a kiss when she was younger, fell flat when she compared it to the lip locking passion that she felt when she kissed Gaara. Not to mention the ache in her heart when she thought about his words the night before she left and that fact that he probably felt that same passion when he kissed her back. _This isn't right_, she thought. She wasn't one to betray her own emotions, but when it came to Shino, how was she supposed to shoot him down when he'd done everything he could to help her out since the beginning of this situation?

A situation that hadn't turned out as bad as she thought it would.

…

TYK: Wow. Not all that happy with this chapter either because not much happened. Some Shino/Sakura action in this chapter, but definitely a lot more Gaa/Saku for the next couple! Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think!


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